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YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND 
VOCATION 


BY 

MEYER  BLOOMFIELD 

Director  of  the  Vocation  Bureau  of  Boston 

Special  Professor  of  Vocational  Guidance 

Boston  University 

WITH   AN  INTRODUCTION 

By  HENRY  SUZZALLO,  Ph.D. 

Professor  of  the  Philosophy  of  Educatioti,  Teachers  College 

Columbia  University 


HOUGHTON   MIFFLIN    COMPANY 

BOSTON  NEW  YORK.  CHICAGO 


COPYRIGHT,    1915,    BY    MEYER    BLOOMFIELD 


ALL    RIGHTS    RESERVED 


CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U    .    S    .    A 


To 
MRS.  PAULINE   AGASSIZ  SHAW 


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CONTENTS 

Introduction.  By  Henry  Suzzallo       .      .      .      .    vii 

I.  The  Choice  of  a  Life-Work  and  its  Diffi- 
culties    1 

II.  The  Wasteful  Start  and  Inefficiency  .      .  9 

III.  Educational  and  Vocational  Guidance  .      .  27 

IV.  The  Organization  of  Vocational  Guidance  50 

V.  Vocational  Guidance  in  Geraiany    ...  95 

VI.  Vocational     Guidance     in     England     and 

Scotland 109 

VII.  Vocational  Guidance  and  He.vlth  Guidance  148 

VIII.  The  School  and  the  Start  in  Life        .      .  158 

IX.  The  Social  Gain  through  Vocational  Guid- 
ance        171 

Suggestive  Material 177 

Bibliography 262 

Outline 268 

Index 272 


^ 


INTRODUCTION 

It  is  very  doubtful  if  one  can  really  appreciate  the 
present  movement  for  the  vocational  guidance  of 
youth,  unless  he  understands  its  connection  with  the 
persistent  social  philosophy  of  the  American  people, 
and  perceives  it  to  be,  what  in  fact  it  is,  another  stage 
in  the  efiFort  to  equalize  opportunity  for  the  children 
of  our  Commonwealth  and  to  perfect  our  social  effi- 
ciency. 

In  a  sense  the  school  has  always  aided  a  few  of 
its  students  to  find  their  occupations  in  the  world. 
The  function  was  crudely  though  certainly  exercised 
through  the  selective  standards  of  traditional  school 
life.  These  selective  standards  favored  those  of  station 
and  intellect  to  enter  professional  life.  The  whole 
system  of  schooling  from  the  primary  school  through 
the  college  was  pre-professional.  The  old-time  teacher 
gave  little  thought  to  those  who  did  not  register  at  the 
school  —  those  who  were  not  prosperous  enough  to 
take  the  leisure  and  pay  the  rate,  those  who  were  not 
interested  in  languages  and  books  and  abstract 
thoughts,  those  who  were  so  handicapped  in  body  and 
mind  that  conventional  schooling  promised  little.  Nor 
was  the  master  greatly  concerned  about  those  who 
made  slow  pace  at  school.  These  were  not  "smart." 
What  more  could  the  teacher  do  for  them!   It  was  as 


viii  INTRODUCTION 

well  they  went  to  work.  It  was  different  with  the  prize 
scholars  of  the  school.  Let  one  of  these  feel  the  rest- 
lessness to  go  to  work,  and  the  teacher  made  a  pilgrim- 
age to  the  home  to  enlist  the  parents'  aid  to  keep  the 
boy  in  school.  The  school's  selection,  instruction,  and 
protection,  whether  exercised  consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously, favored  the  talented  few.  These  reached  the 
end  of  the  college  course  to  find  themselves  at  the 
threshold  of  professional  life,  whither  they  had  been 
guided  from  the  beginning. 

There  are  marked  difficulties  with  this  restricted 
service  of  the  schools.  The  educational  system  sends 
into  professional  life  more  persons  than  are  required. 
It  gives  little  or  no  attention  to  the  education  and  dis- 
tribution of  men  among  the  very  necessary  and  very 
numerous  non-professional  occupations.  In  conse- 
quence the  professions  suffer  from  overcrowding  and 
from  a  type  of  economic  competition  that  interferes 
with  the  idealism  of  professional  service.  But  the  other  ^ 
occupations  fare  worse,  for  they  suffer  from  that  all- 
around  incompetency  which  follows  the  complete  want 
of  an  appropriate  choosing  and  training  of  men  for 
tasks.  Into  the  ranks  of  industry,  agriculture,  com- 
merce, and  personal  service  enter  the  men  and  women 
whose  school  experience  has  directly  or  subtly  con- 
vinced them  that  they  are  partial  or  total  intellectual 
failures,  for  the  traditional  school  has  unjustly  meas- 
ured the  mental  competencies  of  every  type  of  youth 
by  its  high  but  narrow  standards  of  pre-professional 


INTRODUCTION  ix 

training.  Somewhat  dispirited,  these  find  their  occu- 
pations by  chance,  and  with  the  feehng  that  they  are 
to  labor  at  something  which  is  second  best. 

The  schools  have  a  large  contribution  to  make  to 
individual  happiness  and  to  social  efficiency,  by  as- 
suming the  task  of  aiding  all  who  come  under  its  care 
to  make  a  successful  transit  from  the  period  of  educa- 
tion to  that  of  responsible  workmanship  in  the  world. 
The  mere  fact  that  all  occupations,  rather  than  a  few, 
become  a  matter  of  school  concern  will  do  much  to 
make  every  type  of  service  seem  worthy  to  him  who 
enters  it.  It  will  be  an  antidote  to  vocational  snobbish- 
ness which  our  society  can  well  afford  to  administer. 
In  a  sense,  the  consciousness  of  dignified  and  respect- 
able labor,  is  fundamental.  Without  it  the  highest  type 
of  specialized  skill  cannot  be  acquired  or  sustained. 
Under  any  thoroughly  democratic  regard  for  varied 
needs  and  divergent  abilities,  the  school  will  cease  to 
touch  the  majority  of  its  children  with  the  hand  of 
discouragement,  for  the  contact  with  the  world's  use 
of  every  quality  of  mind  will  broaden  its  own  stand- 
ards and  rid  it  of  the  tendency  to  underestimate  what 
the  many  have  to  offer.  It  is  this  fair  dealing  with 
all  kinds  of  work  and  talent  that  the  new  democratic 
spirit  in  education  invokes. 

The  movement  for  the  vocational  guidance  of  youth 
is  then  one  of  our  efforts  to  make  our  school  system 
reflect  the  idealism  of  our  people.  But  its  significance 
goes  far  beyond  what  it  would  tender  to  individuals. 


X  INTRODUCTION 

Viewed  from  the  social  end,  it  gathers  a  sanction  from 
the  stern  and  obvious  dictates  of  industrial  and  politi- 
cal necessity.  Does  not  industry  complain  of  the  ham- 
pering of  the  incompetents?  Already  they  become  a 
handicap  in  the  competition  for  a  world  market.  And 
does  not  the  state,  reflecting  the  tender  mercy  of  the 
social  mind,  turn  its  back  on  all  hard  law  that  would 
let  the  incompetent  starve  and  tax  its  citizens  in- 
creasingly for  public  charity?  It  is  a  safer  and  happier 
state  that  puts  its  money  into  competency,  self-re- 
liance, and  the  joy  of  continuous  workmanship  rather 
than  into  charity  for  those  whose  defective  training 
and  placement  in  life  make  them  unemployable.  In 
the  light  of  what  a  sound  school  policy  might  accom- 
plish, is  not  the  charity  we  give,  with  so  much  sense 
of  virtue,  merely  a  fine  paid  for  guilt  in  sinning  against 
social  foresight? 

A  program  for  vocational  care  may  well  frighten 
the  timid  schoolmaster  who  is  hard  and  fast  in  the 
clutch  of  his  craft-habit  of  teaching  from  a  book  and 
shutting  his  eyes  to  the  consecjuences.  The  sturdier 
sort,  made  sensitive  by  the  tragic  tales  of  educational 
statisticians  and  social  investigators,  will  welcome  the 
new  meaning  which  the  program  brings  to  school  serv- 
ice. Such  a  one  will  not  hesitate  to  begin  some  special 
care  of  the  multitudes  who  leave  school  early  and 
fumble  long  in  the  world  for  a  task  they  have  not  been 
trained  to  perform.  It  is  to  aid  those  who  have  come 
into  a  sense  of  the  full  social  duty  of  the  school  that 


INTRODUCTION  si 

this  volume  is  presented.  The  hook  will  help  to  over- 
throw that  conception  of  school  function  which  stresses 
the  watchful  selection  of  the  few  and  the  forgetful 
elimination  of  the  many.  It  will  substitute  the  new 
idea  that  the  school  is  a  distributive  institution  which 
aims  to  find  for  each  his  effective  place  in  work  and 
citizenship.  It  will  give  counsel  as  to  modes  of  pro- 
cedure with  constant  reference  to  the  experiences  of 
successful  achievement.  That  the  volume  has  been 
written  by  one  who  has  himself  had  a  large  part  in  the 
preliminary  experiments  will  add  to  the  worth  of  every- 
thing said. 

Henry  Suzzallo. 
Teachers  College, 

Columbia  University. 
May,  1915. 


YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCxVTION 


YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND 
VOCATION 


THE    CHOICE   OF   A    LIFE-WORK   AND    ITS 
DIFFICULTIES 

"He  therefore  sometimes  took  me  to  walk  with 
him,"  writes  Benjamin  Franklin  of  his  father,  "and 
see  joiners,  bricklayers,  turners,  braziers,  etc.,  at  their 
work,  that  he  might  observe  my  inclination,  and  en- 
deavor to  fix  it  on  some  trade  or  other  on  land." 

The  busy  a^e  we  live  in  does  not  seem  so  favorable 
for  the  kindly  offices  of  youth's  natural  advisers.  While 
many  a  parent,  teacher,  or  friend  spends  energy  and 
sympathy  to  give  some  girl  or  boy  vocational  sugges- 
tion and  help,  the  fact  is  clear  enough  that  a  vast  ma- 
jority of  the  young  people  in  our  land  enter  upon  their 
careers  as  bread-winners  in  the  trades  and  professions 
unguided  and  unprepared.  Chance  is  usually  given 
the  upper  hand  to  make  or  mar  the  most  critical  period 
of  working  life. 

At  no  other  time  in  history  have  the  sons  and  daugh- 
ters of  the  i)eo])le  been  turned  out  on  so  large  a  scale  to 
earn  their  living,  and  into  so  comiilicated  a  social  order; 
never  before  have  fourteen-year-old  children  been  so 
free  to  settle,  largely  by  themselves,  some  of  the  big- 


2     YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

gest  problems  in  life;  and  never  has  there  been  so  great 
a  need  as  now  for  wise  cooperation  of  home  and  school 
with  the  young  beginners  in  the  work  of  the  world. 

Young  Franklin  on  a  brief  visit  to  the  shop  or  foun- 
dry could  probably  have  seen  a  whole  trade  in  process. 
To-day  this  could  scarcely  be.  Minute  di\dsion  of  la- 
bor, specialization  to  a  degree  which  leaves  the  average 
worker  in  ignorance  of  the  steps  which  go  before  or  fol- 
low his  own  partial  operations,  do  not  encourage  the 
same  personal  view  of  industry.  Commerce  and  the 
liberal  professions  are  hardly  less  detailed  and  hardly 
less  in  the  hands  of  specialists.  Spinning,  weaving,  and 
the  making  of  a  coat,  the  manufacture  of  nails,  watches, 
and  shoes  involve  scores  of  operations.  Likewise  the 
management  of  a  modern  store,  an  office,  or  a  factory 
calls  for  qualities  peculiar  to  a  highly  developed  age 
of  applied  science.  A  new  profession  has  arisen  in  the 
efficiency  engineer,  whose  business  it  is  to  study  the 
costly  results  of  overlooked  waste  and  extravagance  in 
our  large-scale  production  and  distribution  of  goods. 
Big  establishments  are  working  out  personal  data 
sheets  in  order  to  measure  more  scientifically  the  value 
of  their  employees.  One  specialty  store  in  Boston  has 
developed  a  system  of  personal  records  which  lessens 
guesswork  in  the  employment  and  promotion  of  its 
two  thousand  or  more  people. 

We  are  living  in  the  midst  of  a  restless  period,  which 
is  impatient  with  crudeness,  and  too  preoccupied  to 
pause  over  the  stumblings  and  gropings  of  its  be^-il- 


THE  CHOICE  OF  A  LIFE-WORK  3 

dered  youth.  Into  this  arena  of  tense  effort,  the  schools 
of  our  country  pour  their  annual  thousands.  We  trust 
that  somehow  the  tide  of  oi)i)ortunity  may  carry  them 
to  some  safe  vocational  destination.  Only  the  rela- 
tively few  who  reach  the  higher  training  institutions 
can  be  said  to  have  their  problems  at  least  partially 
solved  during  the  critical  period  of  adolescence.  \Miat 
becomes  of  that  young  multitude  sent  out  to  cope  with 
the  strange  conditions  of  self-support?  Whose  business 
is  it  to  follow  up  the  consequences  of  this  transition 
from  school  to  work?  Whose  business  is  it  to  audit  our 
social  accounts,  and  discover  how  far  our  costly  enter- 
prises in  education,  the  pain,  the  thought,  the  skill,  and 
the  sacrifice  we  put  forth  with  the  growing  generation, 
are  well-  or  ill-invested  in  the  field  of  occupation? 

These  are  vital  questions,  and  perhaps  the  most 
vital  is  how  far  the  work  and  careers  our  children  turn 
to  are  the  result  of  informed  choice,  of  accident,  or  of 
necessity.  The  higher  training  schools  are  as  pro- 
foundly concerned  in  this  problem  as  are  the  elemen- 
tary schools.  The  well-to-do  are  no  less  affected  than 
are  the  poor.  Until  society  faces  the  problem  of  the 
life-careers  of  its  youth,  the  present  vocational  anar- 
chy will  continue  to  beset  young  work-seekers.  Wast- 
ing their  golden  years,  they  discover,  oftentimes  too 
late,  how  much  even  a  hel})ful  suggestion  at  the  crit- 
ical moment  might  have  shajied  their  futures.  They 
become  unha])])y,  inilitlcreut,  and  discouraged;  and 
hence  the  pitifid  letters  written  to  those  who  care 


4.     YOUTH,  SCHOOL.  AND  VOCATION 

about  these  problems,  from  men  and  women  who  real- 
ize too  late  the  reason  for  their  futility  as  workers. 

Society  has  been  slow  to  recognize  the  need  of  co- 
operating with  its  future  workers  in  the  choice  of  their 
careers.  It  has  not  realized  that  successful  choice  of 
life-work  is  impossible  to  the  unadvised  and  the  im- 
prepared.  Common  sense  tells  us  that  intelligent 
selection  of  a  life-work  is  the  result  of  intelligent  fore- 
thought and  preparation.  We  cannot  expect  youth  to 
find  itself  vocationally  without  furnishing  it  continu- 
ously with  the  material  and  incentives  for  thoughtful 
selection.  In  other  words,  there  can  really  be  no  one 
detached  day  or  provision  for  considering  life-career 
problems;  but  rather  is  our  entire  scheme  of  education 
and  employment  essentially  a  process,  good  or  bad,  of 
vocational  guidance. 

Now  real  selection  is  impossible  where  the  world  of 
occupation  is  a  dark  continent.  Choice,  like  play,  is 
usually  the  product  of  many  influences,  not  the  least 
of  which  are  suggestion  and  example.  The  children  of 
a  neglected  neighborhood  mimic  the  drunken  woman 
arrested  by  the  policeman,  while  those  of  the  well- 
supervised  city  playground  have  opened  to  them  a 
world  of  wholesome  activities.  A  city  kindergarten 
teacher,  spending  her  vacation  in  a  Nova  Scotia  fish- 
ing hamlet,  gathered  about  her  one  day  a  group  of  the 
fishermen's  children.  She  tried  them  at  the  game  of 
"Trades."  They  could  go  through  the  motions  only  of 
netmaking,  hauling-in  of  fish,  and  the  simple  house- 


THE  CHOICE  OF  A    LTFF^WORK  6 

hold  crafts  of  spinning,  carding,  and  weaving  which 
they  had  seen  their  mothers  and  grandmothers  en- 
gage in.  The  mimicry  of  the  urban  workers,  Hke  the 
plumber,  engineer,  the  merchant,  and  the  newsboy, 
was  altogether  meaningless  to  these  children. 

The  young  people  of  a  crowded  district  play  ambu- 
lance driver,  fireman,  the  street-cleaner,  and  the  actor 
of  cheap  melodrama;  but  when  they  are  older,  and  the 
sense  of  adventure  is  less  keen  in  their  impulse  for 
vocational  expression,  one  finds  how  much  local  so- 
cial ambitions  count.  The  neighborhood  doctor  who 
drives  about  in  a  shiny  buggy,  or  in  a  motor-car  with 
red-cross  devices;  the  lawyer  with  his  nonchalance  in 
the  dread  police  court  of  the  district;  the  dentist  with 
his  gilt  signs  across  a  private  dwelling  in  the  tenement 
quarter,  carrying  proudly  the  title  of  doctor;  and 
the  druggist  —  that  master  of  confections  and  magic 
drugs  —  such  persons  figure  heavily  in  the  family 
judgment  at  the  infrequent  vocational  conferences  of 
the  tenement  home.  To  be  sure,  there  are  examples 
of  the  school-teacher,  the  civil  engineer,  and  the  man 
"on  the  road";  their  rise  from  an  unfavorable  en- 
vironment flashes  a  vocational  hint  to  the  neighbor- 
hood; but  this  is  feeble  as  against  the  potency  of  social 
esteem,  which  is  bestowed  on  local  personages  in  the 
more  famiUar  professions. 

It  is  in  our  centers  of  population,  in  the  apartment- 
and  tenement-house  districts,  that  the  masses  of  chil- 
dren are  to  be  found.  Here  is  nuich  need  for  unfolding 


6     YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

the  panorama  of  occupations  to  the  quick  intelligences 
of  the  young  people.  Parents  here  are  toiling  day  and 
night,  and  family  relationships  often  suffer.  The  teach- 
ers preside  over  large  classes,  while  these  neighborhoods 
are  filled  with  a  crowd  of  the  unskilled,  the  poorly  paid, 
the  unemployed,  and  the  misemployed.  It  is  a  place 
of  high  lights  and  deep  shadows;  and  for  thousands  of 
children  life  opens  unpromisingly.  Democracy  prob- 
ably still  holds  out  opportunities  to  the  child  that  can 
avail  himself  of  them.  But  the  highly  gifted  as  well  as 
the  ungifted  live  here,  equally  doomed  to  undevelop- 
ing  and  cheaply  paid  labor. 

Marshall,  the  economist,  has  showm  that  a  large  pro- 
portion of  genius  is  lost  to  society  because  it  is  born 
among  the  children  of  the  poor,  where  it  perishes  for 
want  of  opportunity.  For  we  have  no  plan  for  conserv- 
ing the  talents  of  the  poor;  no  plan  for  utilizing  the  re- 
sources of  the  immigrant.  Our  schools  are  fettered  by 
routine.  Any  social  experimenting  designed  to  fructify 
the  gifts  of  the  new  peoples  is  left  to  private  philan- 
thropy. A  large  proportion  of  the  children  in  our 
cities  who  leave  school  for  work  as  soon  as  the  law 
allows  are  foreign-born  or  the  children  of  foreign-born. 
Surely  the  hard-driven  parent,  struggling  for  a  foot- 
hold in  an  alien  country,  must  fail  as  a  vocational  ad- 
viser to  his  children.  The  truth  is  that  parents  do  not 
tell  their  children  what  they  should  be,  the  children 
do  the  telling;  if  there  be  time,  indeed,  for  such  con- 
fidences. 


THE  CHOICE  OF  A  LIFE-WORK  7 

Who  shall  hoi])  such  children?  To  whom  shall  they 
turn  for  counsel  and  information  about  the  schools  and 
the  vocations?   The  gathering  of  reliable  occupational 
information  involves  painstaking  labor  and  large  re- 
sources; moreover,  it  can  i)roperly  be  done  by  special- 
ists alone.  Such  information  calls  for  the  correlation  of 
a  variety  of  facts  from  many  and  often  unfamiliar 
sources.   An  illustration  of  the  kind  of  service  needed 
is  to  be  found  in  the  use  made  by  one  vocational  ad- 
viser of  a  report  on  tuberculosis  in  the  various  indus- 
tries, issued  by  the  Massachusetts  State  Board  of 
Health.    The  report  disclosed  the  fact  that  granite- 
cutting  was  among  the  most  unhealtliful  occupations. 
From  his  experience  as  a  social  worker,  this  adviser 
knew  that  many  Italians  are  employed  in  quarries  and 
stone-yards,  and  that  very  many  Italians  return  to 
their  own  country  to  die  of  the  white  plague.  He  took 
pains,  therefore,  to  point  out,  particularly  to  teachers, 
that  when  an  Italian  boy  intended  to  work  at  stone- 
cutting,  the  parent  should  see  to  it  that  a  medical  ex- 
amination gave  the  boy  a  pulmonary  clean  bill;  for  the 
weak-lunged  Italian  boy  who  took  up  stone-cutting 
would  i)robably  be  committing  suicide. 

Another  illustration  of  vocational  help  has  been  the 
work  of  a  young  woman  who  some  years  ago  was  in 
charge  of  a  small  library  in  a  social  settlement  on  the 
East  Side  of  New  York.  Her  idea  of  circulating  books 
was  to  work  out  with  each  boy  and  girl  the  kind  of 
book  that  would  best  minister  to  his  or  her  needs.  And 


8     YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

these  needs  were  studied  with  infinite  care.  Her  minis- 
trations brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the  ambitious 
and  ideahstic  youth  of  her  neighborhood  vocations 
that  were  unknowm  to  them  before.  Forestry,  social 
research,  library  science,  neighborhood  work,  social, 
and  civic  service,  were  among  the  careers  opened  to 
young  boys  and  girls  in  touch  with  the  library  and  the 
other  influences  which  in  time  clustered  about  that  in- 
stitution. And  those  careers  are  followed  to-day  wath 
no  little  distinction  by  the  beneficiaries  of  that  vital- 
izing influence. 

Clearly  the  time  has  gone  by  for  a  laisse2-faire  atti- 
tude toward  this  most  fundamental  of  conservation 
problems.  The  success  achieved  by  those  who  have 
helped  to  shape  a  youth's  career  is  not  fully  accounted 
for  by  pointing  to  gifts  of  insight  and  patience  in  the 
adviser,  or  to  exceptional  qualities  in  the  boys  and 
girls  who  could  benefit  by  an  interest  in  their  welfare. 
To  content  one's  self  with  such  explanation  is  to  doom 
the  mass  of  our  children  to  fruitless  lives.  After  aU,  it 
is  ■wnth  average  and  not  with  exceptional  indi\aduals 
that  the  community  must  mainly  concern  itself,  and 
results  that  are  worth  while  have  attended  even  mod- 
est efforts  at  vocational  guidance  of  large  groups,  as  of 
a  school,  a  club,  or  like  organization.  Only  a  back- 
ward social  conscience  can  paUiate  a  lack  of  effort  to 
attempt  some  remedy,  however  tentative,  for  the  pres- 
ent chaos  in  the  transition  from  school  to  self-support. 


II 

THE   WASTEFUL   START   AND    INEFFICIENCY 

Evidence  of  what  the  let-alone  policy  is  costing  so- 
ciety may  be  found  on  every  hand.  A  talk  A^ith  any  ob- 
servant employer,  or  with  almost  any  parent,  teacher, 
or  student  of  social  conditions,  reveals  an  astonish- 
ing abundance  of  testimony.  Indeed,  the  amount  of 
proof  is  only  equaled  by  the  general  failure  to  heed  its 
lessons.  Little  argument  is  needed  for  the  systematic 
vocational  guidance  of  youth;  and  yet,  on  the  whole, 
no  problem  has  till  now  elicited  so  little  effort  to  meet 
it  in  the  constructive  way  which  modern  methods  of 
dealing  with  other  social  problems  suggest. 

Perhaps  the  most  impressive  body  of  facts  bearing 
on  the  consequences  of  our  failure  to  face  the  vocational 
needs  of  youth  is  to  be  found  in  the  report  issued  in 
England  a  few  years  ago  by  the  Royal  Commission  on 
the  Poor-Laws  and  Relief  of  Distress.  ^  Nothing  more 
deeply  impressed  that  commission  in  the  course  of  its 
exhaustive  investigation  than  the  reckless  pauperiza- 
tion of  England's  promising  youth. 

In  the  Majority  Report,   the  commissioners  lay 

stress  on  the  great  prominence  given  to  boy  labor,  not 

only  in  the  evidence  which  came  before  them,  but  also 

1  Report  of  the  Royal  Commission  on  the  Poor-Laws  and  Relief 
of  Distress.     London,  1909. 


10    YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

in  the  various  reports  of  the  special  investigators;  and 
the  conviction  is  expressed  that  this  is  perhaps  the 
most  serious  of  the  phenomena  which  they  have  en- 
countered in  their  study  of  unemployment.  Well- 
trained  boys  find  it  difficult  enough  to  secure  a  foot- 
hold in  the  skilled  trades;  but  if  in  addition  to  this 
there  are  the  temptations  to  crowd  the  occupations 
which  promise  neither  skill  nor  outlook  nor  future,  the 
fact  is  clear  that  such  conditions  in  the  British  Empire 
are  making  directly  for  unemployment  in  the  future. 

The  Minority  Report  is  even  more  emphatic.  It 
points  out  the  consequences  of  entering  "blind-alley" 
occupations,  and  states  that  perpetual  recruiting  of 
the  unemployable  by  tens  of  thousands  of  boys  is  per- 
haps the  gravest  of  all  the  grave  facts  which  the  com- 
missions laid  bare.  "We  cannot  believe,"  the  com- 
missioners say,  "that  the  nation  can  long  persist  in 
ignoring  the  fact  that  the  unemployed  are  thus  being 
daily  created  under  our  eyes  out  of  bright  young  lives, 
capable  of  better  things,  for  whose  training  we  make 
no  provision.  It  is,  unfortunately,  only  too  clear  that 
the  mass  of  unemployment  is  continually  being  re- 
cruited by  a  stream  of  young  men  from  industries 
which  rely  upon  unskilled  boy  labor,  and  turn  it  adrift 
at  manhood  without  any  general  special  industrial 
qualification  and  that  it  will  never  be  diminished  till 
this  stream  is  arrested." 

Professor  Michael  E.  Sadler,  in  commenting  on  the 
evidence  before  this  Royal  Commission,  states  that 


THE  WASTEFUL  START  11 

boys  and  girls  are  tempted  by  the  ease,  the  fairly  good 
wages,  and  the  sense  of  independence  in  entering  occu- 
pations which  leave  them,  at  the  time  when  they  begin 
to  need  an  adult's  subsistence,  wholly  out  of  line  for 
skilled  employments.  They  are  driven  into  the  ranks 
of  the  unskilled.  Certain  forms  of  industry  squander 
in  this  way  the  physical  and  the  moral  capital  of  the 
rising  generation.  Ilis  conclusions  are  that  if  no  coun- 
teracting measures  are  taken,  great  and  lasting  injury 
will  befall  the  national  life. 

An  official  report  some  years  ago  on  boys  lca\'ing 
the  London  elementary  schools  shows  that  forty  per 
cent  became  errand  and  chore  boys;  fourteen  per  cent, 
shop  boys;  eight  per  cent,  office  boys  and  minor  clerks; 
while  only  eighteen  per  cent  went  definitely  into  trades. 
There  is  a  fairly  satisfactory  law  in  England  governing 
employment  in  factories  and  workshops.  It  is  the  un- 
regulated drift  from  a  vast  variety  of  juvenile  occupa- 
tions into  the  low-skilled  labor  market  that  presents 
grave  aspects.  In  his  study  of  boy  labor,  Mr.  Cyril 
Jackson  points  out  that  few  boys  ever  pick  up  skill 
after  a  year  or  two  spent  on  errand  or  similar  work. 
The  larger  number  fall  into  low-skilled  and  casual 
employments.^ 

Ample  confirmation  of  the  Royal  Commission's  find- 
ings may  be  found  in  the  Report  of  the  Consultative 

•  Report  of  the  Royal  Commission  on  the  Poor-Laus  and  Relief 
of  Distrcus.  Boy  Labor.  Appendix,  vol.  XX.  By  Cyril  Jackson. 
London,  1909. 


12     YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

Committee  on  Attendance  at  Continuation  Schools  in 
England  and  Wales,  published  at  about  the  same  time. 
The  conclusions  from  its  investigations  and  interviews 
with  scores  of  employers  and  others  read  much  like 
the  pages  of  the  Royal  Commission's  Report.  The  evils 
of  educational  neglect  during  adolescence,  this  com- 
mittee finds,  are  often  aggravated  by  the  ease  with 
which  "blind-alley"  occupations  are  entered  upon. 
Such  employments  as  that  of  errand  boy  are  not  nec- 
essarily demoralizing.  Many  a  boy  has  started  in  this 
humble  way  on  a  career  of  success.  But  callings  like 
this  are  apt  to  waste  the  years  during  which  a  boy 
should  make  a  beginning  at  a  skilled  or  developing 
occupation.  The  probabilities  are  that  younger  and 
cleverer  competitors  eventually  oust  the  untrained 
workers,  and  at  a  time  when  these  untrained  workers 
are  burdened  with  adult  responsibilities. 

The  necessity  of  guidance  intended  to  avert  the  en- 
trance by  thousands  of  boys  and  girls  into  a  vocational 
cul-de-sac  is  appreciated  by  this  committee.  Its  con- 
viction is  clearly  expressed  that  the  most  dangerous 
point  in  the  lives  of  children  in  an  elementary  school 
is  the  moment  at  which  they  leave  it.  Investigations 
have  shown  how  difficult  is  the  taking  of  the  right  step 
at  this  stage,  and  the  lamentable  consequences  of  tak- 
ing the  wrong  one.  This  difficulty  is  due  in  large  meas- 
ure to  the  inability  of  parents  to  get  the  necessary 
information  as  to  the  conditions  of  employment,  the 
wages,  and  the  future  prospects  in  various  occupations. 


THE  WASTEFUL  START  13 

as  well  as  a  knowledge  of  the  educational  opijortuni- 
ties  and  the  requirements  for  efficiency  in  such  occu- 
pations. The  committee  has  found  that  many  parents 
are  under  no  necessity  of  sending  their  children  to 
work,  and  that  they  would  be  both  able  and  willing  to 
accept  lower  wages  at  first  for  the  sake  of  subsequent 
advantages  in  the  vocations;  but  their  ignorance  of 
these  matters  makes  it  impossible  for  them  to  select 
work  wisely  for  their  children.  "Unless  children  are 
thus  cared  for  at  this  turning-point  in  their  lives,"  says 
the  Consultative  Committee,  "the  store  of  knowledge 
and  discipline  acquired  at  school  will  be  quickly  dis- 
sipated, and  they  will  soon  become  unfit  either  for 
employment  or  for  further  education."^ 

American  testimony  as  to  this  important  matter  has, 
during  the  past  three  or  four  years,  powerfully  con- 
firmed the  English  findings.  Several  investigations, 
by  public  and  private  organizations,  of  the  vocational 
problems  of  young  working  children  and  the  reasons 
why  they  left  school  for  work,  deserve  brief  review. 

Two  Boston  school-teachers  were  appointed  by  the 
Superintendent  of  Schools  to  make  a  study  during 
1912  of  the  conditions  in  the  school,  home,  and  occu- 
pational life  of  children  for  the  pur]Jose  of  establish- 
ing vocational  guidance  in  the  school  system.  The 
study  was  to  be,  at  first-hand,  of  the  children  in  cer- 
tain selected  school  districts  of  the  city  representing  a 

1  Board  of  Education,  Report  of  the  Consultative  Committee,  p.  ii. 
LcmkIou,  190!). 


14     YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

typical  variety  of  economic,  racial,  geographical,  and 
industrial  conditions.  The  points  for  special  study  of 
two  groups  of  boys  and  girls  in  the  school  districts, 
namely,  the  graduates  of  the  preceding  year,  and 
those  who  dropped  out  from  the  grades,  are  covered 
in  the  following  questions :  — 

(a) 

1 .  How  many  of  the  graduates  continued  to  attend  school  ? 

2.  What  schools? 

3.  What  vocational  intent  entered  into  their  decision  to 
attend  a  given  school? 

4.  How  many  persevered  to  the  end  of  the  school  year  in 
attendance? 

5.  How  many  left  school  during  the  year,  and  why? 

6.  How  many  of  the  graduates  went  to  work  after  gradua- 
tion? Kind  of  work? 

7.  How  many  remained  at  home,  and  why? 

(6) 

1.  The  reason  or  reasons  for  leaving  school,  special  refer- 
ence being  made  to  the  number  who  left  school  to  go  to 
work  and  to  what  extent  actual  poverty  of  the  family 
was  the  cause. 

2.  The  occupation  entered,  and  why. 
(a)  How  obtained?  Vocational  plan? 
(6)  Wages? 

(c)  Length  of  employment? 

(d)  Changes  of  employment? 

(e)  Causes  for  change  ? 

(j)  Chances  for  advancement? 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  quote  some  of  the  findings 
from  the  report  of  one  investigator:  — 

Girls  who  went  to  work  and  their  opportunities 

There  was  little  or  no  difference  in  the  occupations  open  to 
the  girls  who  graduated  and  those  who  left  before  graduat- 


THE  WASTEFUL  START  15 

ing.  The  principal  places  open  to  them  were  in  the  depart- 
ment stores  as  bundle  girls  at  $2.50  to  $3.50;  in  the  factories 
at  $3  to  $4;  in  stores  as  salesgirls  at  $5;  in  tailors'  shops  at 
$2.50  to  $3.50. 

Needless  to  state,  after  the  first  glamour  of  working  has 
worn  off,  the  girls  tire  and  leave  such  work,  or  the  season  be- 
comes dull  and  they  are  "laid  off"  temporarily  or  perma- 
nently, according  as  they  seem  more  or  less  desirable  to  their 
employers. 

Reasons  for  leaving  school 

The  proportion  of  girls  forced  by  financial  circumstances 
to  leave  school  was  comparatively  small.  Being  backward 
in  their  grades,  dislike  of  school,  desire  for  a  change,  desire 
to  be  with  friends  who  were  working,  were  principal  reasons. 

Parents'  knowledge  of  vocational  opportunities 
It  was  most  pathetic  to  see  how  little  the  parents  knew  of 
the  real  industrial  conditions  and  of  what  educational  and 
vocational  opportunities,  entirely  within  their  reach,  existed 
in  Boston.  This  was  true  in  far,  far  larger  extent  of  the  par- 
ents of  girls  who  left  school  in  the  grades  than  of  those  who 
giatiuated.  This  was  due,  doubtless,  to  the  fact  that  the 
graduating  classes  have  been  given  talks  along  these  lines, 
and,  even  if  the  parents  did  not  attend  conferences  given  by 
schools  and  associations,  they  have  gleaned  some  knowledge 
from  the  girls  when  they  did  not  have  personal  knowledge. 

Deductions 

My  experience  has  been  that  the  vast  majority  of  the 
parents  of  the  girls  in  the  study  just  completed  knew  noth- 
ing except  what  they  had  obtained  through  the  school  as  to 
the  various  high  schools  and  their  specialties  —  the  trade 
and  industrial  schools  —  the  iiect-ssity  of  extra  training  and 
pre[)arati()n  to  enter  any  occupation  in  which  there  were 
chances  for  advancement.  The  attitude  of  the  parents  when 
visited  in  the  homes  made  it  appear  only  too  clear  that  prac- 
tically all  would  welcome  such  guiilauce  ami  avail  themselves 
of  it. 


16    YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

Equally  interesting  are  the  conclusions  of  an  inves- 
tigation carried  on  by  the  University  of  Chicago  Set- 
tlement into  the  opportunities  in  school  and  industry 
for  the  children  of  the  neighboring  stockyard  districts. 
The  main  points  of  inquiry  in  the  study  were:  The 
industrial  opportunities  for  children  between  fourteen 
and  sixteen  years  of  age;  the  kind  of  jobs  they  secure, 
wages,  and  chances  for  advancement;  the  relation  of 
the  public  school  to  local  economic  conditions;  the  at- 
titude of  parent  and  child  to  the  school  and  the  job; 
the  relation  of  the  family  income  to  the  causes  for  early 
leaving  of  school;  and  what  may  be  done  to  bridge  the 
gap  between  school  and  work  and  to  guide  youth  into 
an  appropriate  vocation.   The  conclusions  are:  — 

1.  The  district  studied  is  peopled  by  immigrants  of  vari- 
ous races ;  their  work  is  unskilled ;  and  their  main  source 
of  employment  is  the  stockyards. 

2.  The  testimony  of  principal,  teacher,  child,  and  parent 
unites  in  the  conclusion  that  the  public  school  is  not 
meeting  the  needs  of  adolescence  and  adjusting  the  child 
to  his  future  work. 

3.  The  great  exodus  from  school  comes  before  the  seventh 
grade,  and  shortly  after  the  child  reaches  the  age  of 
fourteen. 

4.  The  ignorance  of  parents,  the  willingness  of  children, 
and  the  pressure  of  straitened  circumstances  comljine 
in  forcing  boys  and  girls  to  leave  school  for  work  as 
soon  as  the  law  will  permit  it. 

5.  Few  children  from  the  neighborhood  go  to  high  school, 
or  keep  up  any  form  of  educational  interest  after  leav- 
ing school. 

G.  Yet  the  boys  and  girls  have  talents  and  abilities  in 
special  directions. 


THE   WASTEFUL  START  17 

7.  The  occupulions  entered  are  easily  learned,  mechanical, 
and  devuid  of  educational  valne. 

8.  The  kind  of  joos  secured  is  much  a  matter  of  chance; 
the  migration  from  place  to  place  dcK's  not  lead  to  better 
opportunities;  the  i)ay  is  small;  and  the  net  result  is 
instaljility  of  character. 

9.  A  number  of  "subnormal"  boys  are  as  successful  in 
industry  as  many  "normal"  boys. 

10.  There  is  no  marked  economic  advantage  to  be  gained 
by  a  longer  stay  in  school;  before  the  age  of  sixteen 
preparation  in  school  docs  not  count,  considering  the 
ordinary  run  of  mechanical  occupations  open  to  chil- 
dren. 

11.  Over  half  of  the  families  from  which  the  working  chil- 
dren come  have  such  a  low  income  that  the  wages  of  the 
boy  and  girl  are  judged  necessary. 

12.  The  experience  of  older  boys  and  girls  shows  a  small 
average  contribution  to  the  family  income,  a  short 
average  time  in  each  position,  and  a  long  average 
period  of  idleness.  All  of  these  persons  stopped  school 
during  the  fourteen-to-sixteen-year  period. 

13.  Aside  from  parasitic  industries,  there  is  no  economic 
necessity  for  juvenile  labor,  according  to  the  testimony 
of  employers. 

14.  The  public  school  is  best  adapted  to  deal  with  the  prob- 
lem of  vocational  direction. 

The  most  intensive  study  of  the  conditions  under 
which  children  in  this  country  leave  school  to  go  to 
work  is  to  be  found  in  one  of  the  volumes  on  Woman 
and  Child  Wage-Earners  in  the  United  States,  a  series  of 
studies  published  by  the  United  States  Government 
in  1910.  For  special  inquiry,  six  hundred  and  twenty- 
two  children  were  chosen  in  seven  different  localities 
in  two  Northern  and  two  Southern  States.  One  cannot 
fail  to  be  inii)rcssed  by  the  similarity  of  the  evidence 


18    YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

presented  in  this  investigation  to  that  of  the  others 
just  discussed.  Take,  for  example,  the  summary  on 
the  opposite  page,  which  analyzes  the  causes  for  leav- 
ing school,  and  note  how  closely  the  order  of  causes 
resembles  those  given  in  other  reports.  This  table 
shows,  as  do  other  investigations,  that  two  thirds  of 
the  children  who  drop  out  of  school  for  work  could 
have  remained  if  they  had  so  desired,  or  if  they  had 
been  intelligently  influenced  and  could  have  found  it 
worth  while  to  stay  in  school :  — 

The  intervening  years,  then,  between  leaving  school 
—  which  for  the  majority  of  children  occurs  when  they 
are  fourteen  years  of  age  —  and  entering  upon  work 
which  promises  any  development  at  all,  are  largely 
wasted.  Society  gains  but  little  by  the  labor  of  thou- 
sands of  its  children  at  the  most  precious  period  of  their 
growth.  This  is  not  because  much  of  the  work  done  is 
not  of  use;  but  with  our  present  neglect  we  provide  no 
corrective  for  the  mischief  which  attends  all  uneduca- 
tive  work.  The  reports  of  the  two  commissions  on  In- 
dustrial Education  in  Massachusetts,  investigations 
into  street  trades  in  Boston,  Chicago,  and  elsewhere, 
and  all  the  observations  of  the  child-saving  societies 
in  this  country  confirm  the  Royal  Commission's  alarm 
over  juvenile  labor  as  now  carried  on. 

The  employer  is  very  often  as  much  a  victim  of 
these  conditions  as  the  boy  himself.  The  allurement  of 
good  pay  for  uninstructive  work  is  soon  seen  through 
by  many  a  boy,  and  his  restlessness  during  employ- 


THE  WASTEFUL  START 


19 


ment,  where  often,  without  any  aj)i)arcnt  provoca- 
tion, he  throws  up  his  place,  is  a  constant  source  of 
vexation,  and  undoes  in  the  more  promising  occupa- 

SUMMARY   OF   CAUSES   FOR   CHILDREN   LEAVING   SCHOOL 


Cause  for  child  Icaviuf^  school  to  go  to  work 


Necessity :  — 

Earuiugs  necessary  to  family  support. 

Help  needed  at  home. 

Self-support  necessary 


Total. 


Child's  help  desired,  though  not  necessary:  — 

lu  family  support 

To  buy  property 

In  homo  work ._ .  . . 

To  earn  money  for  education  of  self  or  relative . 


Total. 


Child's  dissatisfaction  with  school :  — 

Tired  of  school 

Disliked  school  (general  manner  of  life  there). 

Disliked  teacher 

Disliked  to  study 

Could  not  learn 

Not  promoted 

Too  big  for  class 


Total. 


Child's  preference  for  work :  — 

Work  preferred  to  school 

Spending  money  wanted , '  ■  i' 

Association  desired  with  friends  who  worked . 


Total. 


Other  causes:  — 

Ill-health 

To  be  kept  off  the  streets 

To  learn  a  trade  or  business 

To  avoid  vaccination 

Removal  of  residence . .  . 

Mother's  disapproval  of  coeducation. 

"Too  much  play" 

Company  pressure 


Total. 


Grand  total. 


Number 


1G9 

0 

11 

186 


140 
12 
14 

7 

173 


35 
54 
31 
10 
10 
5 
14 

165 


44 

s 
0 

Gl 


16 
1 
C 
2 
1 
1 
1 
7 

35 

620 


Per  cent 


30.0 


27.9 


26.6 


9.8 


5.7 
100.0 


Two  children  never  went  to  school,  but  studied  at  home 


20 


YOUTH,   SCHOOL,   AND  VOCATION 


tions  any  plan  which  the  employer  might  have  in  view 
for  the  promotion  of  his  boys.  This  skipping  from  job 
to  job  can  only  mean  for  most  boys  and  girls  certain 

THE  TYPICAL  EMPLOYMENT  RECORD  OF  ONE 
CHILD  BETWEEN  THE  AGES  OF  14  AND   16 

FROM  INVESTIGATION   MADE  BY  MISS  MARY  FLEXNER 


Positions  held 

Length  of  time  in  each 

Kind  of  work 

First 

3  days 

In  factory,  sorting 
buttons 

Second 

2  months 

Ribboning  corset  cov- 
ers and  machine 
work  on  them 

Third 

1  week 

Ribboning  and  but- 
toning corset  covers 

Fourth 

Time  unknown 

Ladies'  underwear 

Fifth 

Up  to  Christmas 

Errand  girl 

Sixth 

2f  months 

Ribboning  corset  cov- 

Seventh 

Time  unknown 

ers 
Errand  girl 

Eighth 

A  few  weeks 

Trim,  cut,  and  exam- 
ine men's  ties 

Ninth 

A  few  weeks 

Return  to  second  job 

Tenth 

A  few  weeks 

Home  work,  ribbon- 
ing 

By  permission  of  the  Uenry  Street  Settlement. 

demoralization.  They  become  job  hoboes.  They  are 
given  work  only  because  nobody  else  is  in  sight  or  so 
cheap,  and  they  stay  at  work  as  little  as  they  may. 
Juvenile  wages  are  their  portion,  no  matter  what  serv- 
ices they  render,  nor  for  how  long  a  period.  A  tragic 
situation  is  here  disclosed.  Not  only  do  we  find  that 
modern  work  conditions  "put  a  man  on  the  shelf"  in 


THE   WASTEFUL  START  21 

the  prime  of  his  years,  because  the  speed  and  skill  of 
younger  brains  and  hands  are  called  for,  but  we  find, 
too,  a  shelving  of  youth  itself  before  life  has  given  these 
groping  beginners  a  fair  chance.  They  seem  doomed 
to  be  juvenile  adults  bound  by  an  iron  law  of  juvenile 
wages.  The  "  dead  end  "  or  "  blind-alley  "  occupations, 
therefore,  with  their  snare  of  high  initial  wages  and 
their  destructivencss  to  any  steady  or  serious  life-work 
motive,  are  breeding  perilous  evils.  Unanimous  testi- 
mony on  this  point  by  the  special  investigators  of  the 
Royal  Commission  has  led  to  the  opinion  that  this,  per- 
haps, is  the  most  serious  of  all  the  problems  encoun- 
tered in  its  study  of  unemployment.  A  term  of  sinister 
suggestion  has  been  coined  to  describe  the  products 
of  this  vocational  anarchy  —  "the  unemployables." 

The  unemployables  are  people  whom  no  ordinary 
employer  would  care  to  employ,  not  so  much  because 
of  their  physical  or  mental  incapacity,  but  because 
their  economic  backbone  has  been  broken.  The  vo- 
cationally wasted  years  have  landed  their  victims  on 
the  industrial  quicksands;  they  become  the  wanderers 
of  our  job  jungle.  Tempting  wages  with  no  training, 
the  wrong  use  of  youthful  energies,  long  hours  of  dull 
and  sterile  work,  conspire  to  turn  out,  when  youth- 
hood  is  over,  a  horde  of  phantom-workers,  quite 
blighted  as  to  their  vocational  ideals  and  possibilities. 

It  is  clear  that  adequate  provision  for  social  as  well 
as  vocational  training,  and  systematic  life-work  coun- 
seling at  the  peritxl  of  life  when  boys  and  girls  arc  most 


22  YDUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATIDN 

largely  thrown  upon  their  individual  efforts,  would 
help  correct  these  disastrous  conditions.  The  move- 
ment for  vocational  education  rests  solidly  on  an  ap- 
preciation of  the  facts.  Education  has  become  more 
practical  because  it  has  become  more  democratic.  We 
are  more  concerned  now  that  the  courses  shall  fit  the 
boys  and  girls  than  that  these  should  fit  the  courses ; 
that  the  school  shall  go  through  the  child  than  that  the 
child  shall  go  through  the  school. 

To  fit  youth  for  a  life  of  genuine  service  is  the  aim 
of  modern  education.  This  preparation  makes  for  a 
life  of  larger  appreciations  and  sympathies  than  is 
possible  to  non- vocational  education.  Neither  the 
home,  the  common  school,  nor  the  present-day  condi- 
tions of  bread-winning  can  offer  youth  the  necessary 
preparation  for  efficient  work  and  living.  Stress  of 
competition,  large-scale  operations  of  production  and 
distribution,  subdivision  and  speed  of  labor,  and  higher 
standards  of  professional  equipment  make  it  well-nigh 
impossible  for  youth  to  get  the  necessary  equipment 
during  the  period  of  work  alone.  In  industry  the  boys 
are  taken  on,  not  as  apprentices  but  as  "process" 
workers  where,  while  becoming  deft  in  one  minute 
operation,  they  learn  nothing  of  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  the  work  on  which  the  plastic  period  of  their 
youth  is  spent. 

Where,  then,  are  the  boy  and  girl  to  find  that  train- 
ing which  shall  strengthen  them  for  self-support  and 
vocational  progress?  Not  a  few  employers  confessedly 


THE   WASTEFUL  START  23 

expect  their  competitors  to  bear  the  brunt  of  training 
employees,  who  are  eagerly  approjjriuted  when  they 
have  become  proficient.  The  beginners  in  almost  every 
desirable  occu])ation  are  expected  to  know  something 
and  amount  to  something  from  the  very  outset  in  em- 
ployment. 

New  demands  are  made  upon  the  public  school  sys- 
tem as  the  best  agency  for  solving  the  problem  of  vo- 
cational education.    The  right  of  every  child  to  the 
best  possible  chance  in  life  makes  necessary  the  public 
control  of  vocational  training.    The  future  develop- 
ment of  our  industries,  and  the  promotion  of  high- 
grade  productive  enterprises  which  pay  good  wages 
and  encourage  intelligence,  call  for  the  training  of  large 
groups,  such  as  the  public  schools  alone  can  reach. 
Employers  require  well-trained  youth  for  their  shops 
and  offices,  and  they  take  the  schools  to  task  for  the 
ill-equipped  product  turned  out.  Vocational  education, 
therefore,  has  grown  into  a  nation-wide  movement, 
partly  in  response  to  the  emi)loycr's  needs;  but  more 
especially  in  resj)onse  to  the  needs  of  the  individual 
workers  who  face  new  exactions  on  efficiency,  and  to 
a  realization  that  civilized  standards  of  living  depend 
for  their  maintenance  largely  on  the  quality  and  skill 
of  a  nation's  workers. 

Yet  underlying  the  demand  for  efficiently  produc- 
tive youth,  both  in  the  trades  and  in  the  professions, 
there  is  another  demand  which  the  movement  for  vo- 
cational guiflance  has  brought  into  the  foreground. 


24    YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

It  is  right  that  those  who  give  employment  to  boys 
and  girls  shall  ask  for  efficiency.  It  is  wholesome, 
too,  for  any  public  institution  to  be  measured  by  the 
concrete  test  of  results  and  be  called  upon  to  check  up 
its  work.  But  it  is  equally  the  right  and  duty  of  those 
entrusted  with  the  nurture  of  the  rising  generation  to 
make  the  vocations  render  account,  too.  What  hap- 
pens to  the  boys  and  girls  under  the  new  influences  in 
employment  is  not  alone  a  matter  between  them  and 
their  individual  employers,  nor  between  them  and  their 
parents,  but  it  is  essentially  one  for  the  community. 

The  vocational  movements  in  education  —  that  is, 
the  movements  for  vocational  education  and  guidance 
—  have  brought  forward  some  far-reaching  questions 
of  school  and  social  policy.  These  movements,  with 
their  multiplying  schemes  of  training,  and  their  vo- 
cation bureaus,  vocational  information,  scholarship, 
follow-up,  and  research  societies,  have  focused  atten- 
tion on  the  widespread  failure  of  the  recent  past  to 
understand  the  trials  of  helpless  children  in  the  gulf 
between  school  and  work.  But  now  that  aroused  in- 
terest everywhere  in  the  after-school  problems  of  boys 
and  girls  has  begun  to  manifest  itself  in  the  form  of 
numerous  vocational  help  projects,  the  question  as  to 
what  is  the  duty  of  the  public  school  toward  its  children 
who  leave  for  work  looms  large.  Is  it  the  business  of 
our  schools  to  follow  their  children  into  the  shops  and 
store?  Shall  the  schools  have  any  voice  as  to  the  kind 
of  work  the  children  may  do?  And  if  the  schools  are. 


THE   WASTEFIJI.   START  25 

indeed,  to  follow  the  children  into  employment,  how 
far  may  they  go  in  their  control  and  supervision  of  the 
start  in  life? 

These  and  similar  questions  thinking  jjeople  through- 
out the  world  are  pondering  over.  There  is  not  so 
much  discussion  now  as  to  whether  or  not  the  school 
shall  have  anything  to  do  with  such  matters;  the  situ- 
ation is  clear  enough;  thoughtful  people  everywhere 
realize  that  it  is  social  ruin  to  leave  the  adolescent 
worker  adrift. 

Our  main  concern,  then,  it  is  generally  conceded,  is 
with  the  most  effective  ways  of  taking  up  the  costly 
slack  in  our  educational  service.  Guidance  of  some 
sort  we  have  always  with  us  as  a  matter  of  course; 
there  is  vocational  guidance,  if  it  may  so  be  called, 
even  where  there  has  been  least  thought  given  to  the 
changes  which  have  taken  place  since  home  and  shop 
have  ceased  to  be  the  center  of  directive  vocational  in- 
fluence. Take  any  class  of  children  in  any  school  and 
ask  for  compositions  on  what  they  intend  to  be,  and 
why;  their  papers  will  automatically  reflect  precisely 
the  kind  of  vocational  suggestion  and  bias,  the  knowl- 
edge or  lack  of  it  which  they  absorb  from  school,  home, 
and  neighborhood.  Those  who  have  had  the  opi)or- 
tunity  to  help  boys  and  girls  with  organized  vocational 
information  and  counsel  know  how  far  ahead  such 
children  are,  in  the  strength  and  definiteness  of  their 
future  plan  and  aim,  as  contrasted  with  the  children 
who  hear  little,  or  perhaps  only  partial  truths,  about 


26    YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

the  work  of  the  world,  and  the  training  which  is  re- 
lated to  it. 

The  educational  protection  of  the  young  ends  ar- 
bitrarily when  the  work  certificate  is  granted.  Assur- 
edly this  is  not  to  the  interest  of  either  the  child  or  the 
employer.  On  the  contrary,  the  few  years  after  leav- 
ing school  should  be  the  time  for  most  thoroughgoing 
follow-up  work  by  the  pul)lic.  While  school  authori- 
ties are  given  increasing  resources  to  train  for  the  de- 
mands of  modern  vocational  life,  they  should  be  like- 
wise empowered  to  deal  with  uses  which  are  made  of 
the  training  given.  A  searching  appraisal  of  occupa- 
tions must  be  undertaken,  so  that  foreknowledge  and 
forewarning  shall  be  the  common  possession  of  every 
parent,  teacher,  boy,  and  girl.  The  job,  like  the  school, 
should  be  made  to  give  an  account  of  itself.  The  de- 
sirable occupations  must  be  better  known  and  pre- 
pared for;  the  dull  and  deadly  being  classified  in  a 
rogue's  gallery  of  their  own.  Not  till  this  is  done  can 
reciprocal  purpose  mark  the  relation  between  em- 
ployer and  employee.  For  the  uneducative,  if  neces- 
sary, work  which  young  people  are  yet  obliged  to  do, 
compensation  must  be  provided  in  the  form  of  leisure 
and  opportunity  for  further  improvement,  social  as 
well  as  vocational,  in  special  day  classes  and  schools 
for  such  workers.  Is  it  too  much  to  hope  that  the  near 
future  will  see  our  schools  unite  with  the  best  employ- 
ers to  further,  during  its  decisive  vocational  years, 
youth's  promise  of  service  and  growth.' 


Ill 

EDUCATIONAL   AND    VOCATIONAL 
GUIDANCE 

A  GROWING  interest  and  an  increasing  literature  on 
the  subject  indicate  a  new  attitude  toward  the  voca- 
tional problems  of  the  adolescent.  The  Convention  of 
the  National  Education  Association,  held  in  1910, 
might  be  said  to  have  found  its  keynote  in  the  signi- 
ficant title  of  President  Eliot's  address,  "The  Value, 
during  Education,  of  the  Life-Career  Motive."  Hun- 
dreds of  teachers  departed  with  renewed  conviction 
that  the  success  of  the  coming  education  will  lie  in  the 
strength  of  the  controlling  purposes  it  develops  in 
boys  and  girls  to  live  and  work  efficiently.  The  Re- 
port of  the  Committee  on  the  Place  of  Industries 
in  Public  Education  is  a  contribution  to  the  subject 
of  vocational  preparation.  It  gras])s  throughout  the 
fundamental  need  of  training  to  choose  life-work  in- 
telligently. 

"It  is  to  be  hoped,"  says  this  Report,  "that  the 
constructive  work  and  the  study  of  industry  in  the 
elementary  school  will  ultimately  be  of  such  a  charac- 
ter that  when  the  pupil  reaches  the  age  at  which 
the  activities  of  adult  life  make  their  appeal,  he  will 
be  able  to  make  a  wise  choice  in  reference  to  them 


28    YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

and  be  already  advanced  in  an  appreciable  measure 
toward  the  goal  of  his  special  vocation." 

The  question  of  choice  of  a  life-work  involves  quite 
as  much  selecting  the  right  kind  of  further  schooling  as 
the  right  vocation.  It  is  quite  as  important  to  attend 
the  right  kind  of  high  or  other  school  as  it  is  to  do  the 
work  one  is  best  fitted  for.  Before  the  work  of  vo- 
cational counseling  and  help  had  gone  far  in  the  pio- 
neer efforts  of  the  Boston  school  system  a  few  years 
ago,  it  was  realized  that  the  aimless  drift  of  the  grade- 
school  children  into  the  several  departments  of  the 
high  schools  was  a  serious  obstacle  to  any  real  voca- 
tional guidance.  "If  children  know  so  little  about  the 
different  aims  and  special  uses  of  the  college  prepara- 
tory or  the  manual  arts  courses  as  to  go  into  them 
without  careful  forethought  and  selection,"  reasoned 
those  interested  in  vocational  counseling,  "we  cannot 
hope  to  do  much  toward  a  thoughtful  choice  of  a  life- 
work."  The  truth  is  that  boys  and  girls  have  been 
drifting  from  the  lower  schools  to  the  secondary 
schools  very  much  as  they  drift  from  school  to  job. 
It  is  not  a  matter  of  surprise,  therefore,  that  there 
should  be  a  large  and  preventable  dropping  out  from 
the  early  classes  of  our  high  schools,  too. 

Educational  guidance,  then,  has  become  the  recog- 
nized first  step  in  vocational  guidance;  the  bridging 
of  the  gap  between  the  elementary  and  other  school 
opportunities.  In  such  vital  interlocking  of  a  commu- 
nity's training  resources,  there  is  a  genuine  guidance; 


! 


EDIC  ATIONAL  GUIDANCE  29 

there  is,  moreover,  a  new  sease  of  value  imparted  to 
the  scheme  of  i)ublic  education  as  a  whole.  Two  illus- 
trations from  Boston  school  experience  show  a  prom- 
ising beginning  in  the  new  method  of  helping  in  the 
selection  of  pupils  for  the  various  high  schools  of  the 
city.  Both  the  High  School  of  Commerce  and  the  High 
School  of  Practical  Arts  receive  applications  for  en- 
trance from  several  hundred  more  grammar  school 
graduates  than  can  be  accommodated.  What  pupils  are 
to  be  given  the  preference?  On  what  basis  are  they  to 
be  picked?  The  Boston  School  Committee  authorized 
the  school  superintendent  to  work  out  with  the  school 
principals  a  plan  whereby  each  school  might  designate 
one  or  more  teachers  to  serve  as  vocational  advisers 
for  the  school.  Over  two  hundred  teachers  have  been 
so  designated,  and  their  services  to  the  high  schools 
in  question  may  be  told  in  the  words  of  the  officials 
themselves.  The  head  master  of  the  High  School  of 
Practical  Arts  writes :  — 

When  it  became  evident  that  many  more  girls  than  could 
he  taken  had  sent  in  applications  for  admission,  I  wrote  the 
principals  requesting  them  to  turn  the  list  over  to  the  voca- 
tional counselors  with  the  suggestion  that  the  pupils  be 
graded  according  to  their  standing  in  cooking,  sewing,  and 
tlrawing.  I  also  asked  that  those  who  could  afford  only  one 
year  for  further  preparation  be  directed  to  the  trade  schools. 
Girls  without  special  liking  for  our  work  were  shown  the 
possibilities  of  the  other  schools. 

The  girls  were  classed  in  three  groups,  —  first,  second,  and 
third.  —  according  to  standing  in  the  subjects  above  men- 
tioned, together  with  the  taste  and  personal  adaptability  of 
each.   I  took  uU  of  the  lirst  and  some  of  the  second,  giving 


30    YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

personal  attention  to  some  special  cases.  If  good  judgment 
has  been  shown,  our  classes  will  be  made  up  of  girls  who  will 
take  an  interest  in  the  work  of  the  school  and  who  will  profit 
thereby. 

Here  is  a  communication  of  the  former  head  master 
of  the  High  School  of  Commerce :  — 

The  plan  of  having  the  vocational  counselors  of  grammar 
schools  select  boys  for  our  high  school  was  as  follows:  "The 
problem  with  the  High  School  of  Commerce  has  been  a  press- 
ing one  for  the  past  two  years.  Last  year  we  selected  by  lot, 
thinking  that  such  a  method  was  fairest  and  most  democratic. 
When  vocational  advisers  were  appointed  in  each  grammar 
school,  we  thought  that  we  could  properly  call  upon  them  to 
solve  the  problem.  At  a  meeting  held  in  the  spring,  some 
of  us  addressed  all  the  vocational  advisers  of  the  grammar 
schools,  explaining  the  types  of  school  and  the  kind  of  boys 
suitable.  Opportunity  was  given  for  questions.  Many  of  the 
advisers  then  visited  the  schools.  They  took  the  matter  in 
earnest,  calling  in  the  parents  and  forming  a  very  careful 
judgment  in  selecting  the  boys.  At  our  school  we  feel  that 
the  best  method  j'et  has  been  found  and  that  the  system  will 
improve  year  by  year." 

An  organized  scheme,  then,  for  advising  young  peo- 
ple as  to  the  continuance  of  their  schooling  and  its 
bearing  on  future  occupation  is  a  promising  approach 
to  a  solution  of  the  vocational  situation  we  have  been 
considering.  An  experiment  with  a  group  of  high- 
school  boys  shortly  before  their  graduation  a  few  years 
ago  revealed  a  need  for  life-career  guidance,  an  effort 
to  meet  which  led  to  what  is  probably  the  first  voca- 
tion bureau  in  this  country.  Sixty  or  more  boys  were 
invited  to  a  reception  on  the  roof-garden  of  the  Civic 
Service  House  in  the  North  End  of  Boston,  in  order 


EDUCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  31 

to  talk  over  their  future  plans  with  the  late  Professor 
Frank  Parsons  and  several  other  workers  of  that 
neighborhood  house.  The  interviews  disclosed  that 
about  a  dozen  of  the  boys  were  going  to  college,  a  third 
of  the  rest  hoped  to  be  lawyers,  almost  another  third 
doctors,  three  or  four  had  definite  plans  for  business 
careers,  while  the  rest  had  no  plans  and  were  going  to 
take  whatever  came  along.  It  is  a  question  whether 
those  with  no  plans  in  view  were  not  better  off  than 
the  boys  who  planned  for  legal  and  medical  studies, 
woefully  unprepared,  most  of  them,  for  the  expense, 
the  sacrifice,  and  the  struggles  that  even  moderate 
success  in  those  callings  demanded.  Indeed,  vocation, 
a  calling,  in  its  literal  sense,  is  not  the  word  to  use; 
with  many  of  the  boys  the  ideal  compulsion  to  devote 
themselves  to  some  one  pursuit  above  all  others  was 
not  manifest.  There  could  be  no  doubt  that  the  ambi- 
tion and  perseverance  of  some  of  these  boys  would 
overcome  the  obstacles  in  store  for  them;  but  unfortu- 
nately the  story  of  success  is  more  easily  told  than  that 
of  mediocrity  or  failure.  We  have  yet  to  learn  how  to 
take  stock  of  waste  and  misdirection  as  well  as  of 
achievement  in  human  pursuits. 

An  office  was  opened  to  give  those  Vv'ho  so  desired  an 
opi)ortunity  to  talk  over  their  vocational  i)roblcms 
with  a  sympathetic  and  skilled  economist.  Professor 
Parsons  took  charge  of  the  Civic  Service  House  Voca- 
tion Bureau,  where  scores  of  men  and  women  of  all 
ages  and  conditions,  as  well  as  hundreds  of  letters. 


32    YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

came  to  him  from  all  parts  of  the  country.  A  note  of 
lost-self  seemed  to  be  the  burden  of  an  amazing  num- 
ber of  these  communications.  Of  course,  little  could 
be  done  for  the  letter-writers,  because  helpful  voca- 
tional counsel  cannot  honestly  be  given  except  through 
intimate  personal  contact. 

Professor  Parson's  work  is  described  in  the  last  vol- 
ume which  he  wrote,  entitled  Choosing  a  Vocation.^ 
This  pioneer  work  shows  how  the  author  in  his  treat- 
ment of  the  applicant,  emphasized  the  importance  of 
scientific  method  in  self-analysis  in  the  course  of  a 
number  of  interviews  with  the  counselor.  The  coun- 
selor, on  the  other  hand,  was  to  be  trained  according 
to  a  definite  plan,  and  equipped  with  a  knowledge  of 
the  vocations,  of  industrial  statistics,  and  of  the  avail- 
able educational  opportunities. 

Within  a  year  the  interest  taken  by  business  men, 
educators,  and  social  workers  in  the  possibilities  of  a 
well-organized  vocation  bureau,  located  centrally  in 
offices  of  its  own,  gave  that  pioneer  experiment  a  better 
foundation  and  a  wider  scope.  The  new  Vocation  Bu- 
reau's cooperation  with  the  Boston  schools  was  among 
its  first  activities. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1909,  the  School  Committee 
of  Boston  passed  a  resolution  inviting  the  Vocation 
Bureau  to  submit  a  plan  for  vocational  guidance  to 
assist  public-school  pupils.  The  Bureau  thereupon 
presented  the  following  suggestions :  — 

1  Published  by  Houghtou  Mifflin  Company. 


EDUCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  33 

First,  the  Bureau  will  employ  a  director  to  give  practically 
his  entire  time  to  the  organization  of  vocational  counsel  to 
the  graduates  of  the  Boston  public  schools  during  the  ensu- 
ing year. 

Second,  the  work  of  this  vocational  director  shall  be  car- 
ried on  in  cooi)eration  with  the  Boston  School  Committee  or 
the  Superintendent  of  Schools,  as  the  Committee  shall  see 
fit. 

Third,  it  is  the  plan  of  the  Bureau  to  have  this  vocational 
director  organize  a  conference  of  masters  and  teachers  of  the 
Boston  high  schools  through  the  Committee  or  the  Superin- 
tendent, so  that  members  of  the  graduating  classes  will  be 
met  for  vocational  advice  either  by  this  vocational  direc- 
tor or  by  the  cooi)crating  school  masters  and  teachers,  all 
v.'orking  along  a  general  plan,  to  be  adopted  by  this  con- 
ference. 

Fourth,  the  vocational  director  should,  in  cooperation 
with  the  Sui)erin1en(lent  of  Schools,  or  any  person  whom  he 
may  appoint,  arrange  vocational  lectures  for  the  members  of 
the  graduating  classes. 

Fifth,  the  Bureau  believes  that  school  masters  and  teachers 
should  be  definitely  trained  to  give  vocational  counsel,  and 
therefore,  that  it  is  advisable  for  this  vocational  director,  in 
cooperation  with  the  Superintendent  of  Schools,  to  establish 
a  series  of  conferences  to  which  certain  selected  teachers  and 
masters  should  be  invited  on  condition  that  they  will  agree 
in  turn  definitely  to  do  vocational  counseling  with  their  own 
pupils. 

Sixth,  the  vocational  director  will  keep  a  careful  record 
of  the  work  accomplished  for  the  pupils  during  the  year,  the 
number  of  pupils  counseled  with,  the  attitude  of  the  pupils 
with  reference  to  a  choice  of  vocations,  the  advice  given,  and, 
as  far  as  possible,  the  results  following.  These  records  should 
form  the  basis  for  a  report  to  the  Boston  School  Committee 
at  the  end  of  the  year.  The  Bureau  cherishes  the  hope  that 
it  can  so  demonstrate  the  practicability  and  value  of  this 
work  that  the  Boston  School  CoTumitlce  will  ev(>ntually  es- 
tablish in  its  regular  organization  a  supervisor  of  vocational 
advice. 


34  YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

On  June  7,  1909,  the  School  Committee  at  a  regular 
meeting  took  favorable  action  on  the  Vocation  Bu- 
reau's suggestions  and  instructed  the  Superintendent 
of  Schools  to  appoint  a  committee  of  six  to  work  with 
the  director.  For  over  a  year  the  committee  thus 
appointed,  consisting  of  three  masters  and  three  sub- 
masters,  held  weekly  meetings  at  the  office  of  the 
Vocation  Bureau.  Their  first  report  to  the  Superintend- 
ent of  Schools  is  worth  giving  in  full,  not  only  because 
of  the  valuable  suggestions  it  contains,  but  also  as  an 
indication  of  the  teachers'  place  in  school  vocational 
guidance :  — 

The  Committee  on  Vocational  Direction  respectfully  pre- 
sents the  following  as  a  report  for  the  school  year  just  closed. 
The  past  year  has  been  a  year  of  beginnings,  the  field  of  op- 
eration being  large  and  the  problems  complicated.  A  brief 
survey  of  the  work  shows  the  following  results :  — 

A  general  interest  in  vocational  direction  has  been  aroused 
among  the  teachers  of  Boston,  not  only  in  the  elementary 
but  in  the  high  schools. 

A  vocational  counselor,  or  a  committee  of  such  counsel- 
ors, has  been  appointed  in  every  high  school  and  in  all  but 
one  of  the  elementary  schools. 

A  vocational  card  record  of  every  elementary  school  gradu- 
ate for  this  year  has  been  made,  to  be  forwarded  to  the  high 
school  in  the  fall. 

Stimulating  vocational  lectures  have  been  given  to  thirty 
of  the  graduating  classes  of  the  elementary  schools  of  Boston, 
including  all  the  schools  in  the  more  congested  parts  of  the 
city. 

Much  has  been  done  by  way  of  experiment  by  the  mem- 
bers of  this  committee  in  the  various  departments  of  getting 
employment,  counseling,  and  following  up  pupils  after  leav- 
ing school. 


EDUCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  35 

Tlic  interest  and  loyal  cooperation  of  many  of  the  lea<linf? 
philanthropic  societies  of  Boston  have  been  secured,  as  well 
as  that  of  many  prominent  in  the  business  and  professional 
life  of  the  city  and  the  State. 

A  good  beginning  has  already  been  made  in  reviewing 
books  suitable  for  vocational  libraries  in  the  schools. 

It  was  early  decided  that  we  should  confine  our  eflforts  for 
the  first  year  mainh'  to  pupils  of  the  highest  elementary  grade 
as  the  best  point  of  contact.  The  problem  of  vocational  aid 
and  counsel  in  the  high  schools  has  not  as  yet  been  directly 
dealt  with,  yet  much  that  is  valual)le  has  been  accomjilished 
in  all  our  high  schools  on  the  initiative  of  the  head  masters 
and  selected  teachers.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  quality  and 
amount  of  vocational  aid  and  direction  has  far  exceeded  any 
hitherto  given  in  those  schools.  The  committee,  through 
open  and  private  conferences,  and  correspondence  with  the 
head  masters,  have  kept  in  close  touch  with  the  situation  in 
high  schools,  but  they  feel  that  for  the  present  year  it  is  best 
for  the  various  tyi)es  of  high  schools  each  to  work  out  its  own 
plan  of  vocational  direction.  The  facts  regarding  their  ex- 
perience can  properly  be  made  the  basis  of  a  later  report.  A 
committee  of  three,  appointed  by  the  Head  Masters'  Asso- 
ciation, stands  ready  to  advise  with  this  committee  on  all 
matters  relating  to  high-school  vocational  interests.  Once 
during  the  year  the  principals  of  the  specialized  high  schools 
met  in  conference  the  vocational  counselors  of  the  city  and 
have  presented  the  aims  and  curricula  of  these  schools  in  such 
a  way  as  greatly  to  enlighten  those  responsible  for  advising 
pupils  just  entering  high  schools. 

The  committee  have  held  regular  weekly  meetings  through 
the  school  year  since  Se[)tember.  At  these  meetings  every 
phase  of  vocational  aid  has  been  discussed,  together  with  the 
a<laptability  to  our  present  educational  system.  Our  aim  has 
been  to  test  the  various  comlusioiis  before  reconunending 
them  for  adoption.  This  has  takt-n  lime.  Our  nu>st  serious 
problem  so  far  has  been  to  adapt  our  plans  to  conditions  as 
we  find  them,  without  increasing  the  teachers'  work  and 
without  greatly  increased  ex])ense.  We  have  assumed  that 
the  movement  was  not  a  temporary  "fail,"  but  that  it  had 


36    YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

a  permanent  value,  and  was  therefore  worthy  the  serious  at- 
tention of  educators. 

Three  aims  have  stood  out  above  all  others:  first,  to  secure 
thoughtful  consideration,  on  the  part  of  parents,  pupils,  and 
teachers,  of  the  importance  of  a  life-career  motive;  second, 
to  assist  in  every  way  possible  in  placing  pupils  in  some  re- 
munerative work  on  leaving  school;  and  third,  to  keep  in 
touch  with  and  help  them  thereafter,  suggesting  means  of  im- 
provement and  watching  the  advancement  of  those  who 
need  such  aid.  The  first  aim  has  been  in  some  measure 
achieved  throughout  the  city.  The  other  two  have  thus  far 
been  worked  out  only  by  the  individual  members  of  the  com- 
mittee. As  a  result  we  are  very  firmly  of  the  opinion  that 
until  some  central  bureau  of  information  for  pupils  regarding 
trade  and  mercantile  opportunities  is  established,  and  some 
effective  system  of  sympathetically  following  up  pupils,  for  a 
longer  or  a  shorter  period  after  leaving  school,  is  organized 
in  our  schools  as  centers,  the  effort  to  advise  and  direct 
merelj'  will  largely  fail.  Both  will  require  added  executive 
labor  which  will  fall  upon  the  teachers  at  first.  We  believe 
thej'  will  accept  the  responsibility.  If,  as  Dr.  Eliot  says, 
teachers  find  those  schools  more  interesting  where  the  life- 
career  motive  is  present,  then  the  sooner  that  motive  is  dis- 
covered in  the  majority  of  pupils  the  more  easily  will  the  daily 
work  be  done  and  the  product  correspondingly  improved. 

In  order  to  enlist  the  interest  and  cooperation  of  the  teach- 
ers of  Boston,  three  mass  meetings,  one  in  October  and  two 
in  the  early  spring,  were  held.  A  fourth  meeting  with  the 
head  masters  of  high  schools  was  also  held  with  the  same  ob- 
ject. As  a  most  gratifying  result  the  general  attitude  is  most 
sj'mpathetic  and  the  enthusiasm  marked.  The  vocation 
counselors  in  high  and  elementary  schools  form  a  working 
organization  of  over  one  hundred  teachers,  representing  all 
the  schools.  A  responsible  official,  or  committee,  in  each 
school  stands  ready  to  advise  pupils  and  parents  at  times 
when  they  most  need  advice  and  are  asking  for  it.  They  sug- 
gest whatever  helps  may  be  available  in  further  educational 
preparation.  They  are  ready  to  fit  themselves  professionally 
to  do  this  work  more  intelligently  and  discriminatingly,  not 


EDUCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  37 

only  by  meeting  together  for  mutual  counsel  and  exchange  of 
experiences,  hut  h.\'  study  and  expert  i)re|)aration  if  need  he. 

As  a  heginning  of  our  work  with  pupils  we  have  followed 
out  two  lines:  the  lecture  and  the  card  record.  The  a<ltlresses 
have  been  mainly  stimulating  and  insi)irational.  It  seems  to 
the  committee,  however,  that  specific  information  coming 
from  those  intimately  connected  with  certain  lines  of  labor 
should  have  a  place  also  in  this  lecture  phase  of  our  work.  In 
a  large  number  of  high  and  elementary  schools  addresses  of 
this  character  have  been  given  by  experts  during  the  year. 
The  committee  claim  no  credit  for  these,  though  carried  out 
under  the  inspiration  of  the  movement  the  committee  repre- 
sent. The  custom  of  having  such  addresses  given  before 
Junior  Alumni  Associations,  Parents'  Associations,  and  eve- 
ning school  gatherings  has  become  widespread,  the  various 
masters  taking  the  initiative  in  such  cases.  The  speakers  are 
able  to  quote  facts  with  an  authority  that  is  convincing  to 
the  pupil  and  leads  him  to  take  a  more  serious  view  of  his 
future  plans,  especially  if  the  address  is  followed  up  by  simi- 
lar talks  from  the  class  teacher,  emphasizing  the  points  of  the 
speaker.  This  is  a  valuable  feature  and  should  be  extended  to 
include  more  of  the  elementary  grades,  especially  in  the  more 
densely  settled  portions  of  the  city,  from  which  most  of  our 
unskilled  workers  come. 

A  vocational  record  card  calling  for  elementary-school 
data  on  one  side  and  for  high-school  data  on  the  other,  has 
been  furnished  all  the  elementary  schools  for  registration  of 
this  year's  graduates.  The  same  card  will  be  furnished  to 
high  schools  this  fall.  These  cards  are  to  be  sent  forward 
by  the  elementary -school  counselors  to  high  schools  in  Sep- 
tember, to  be  revised  twice  during  the  high-school  course. 
The  value  of  the  card  record  is  not  so  much  in  the  registering 
of  certain  data  as  in  the  results  of  the  process  of  getting  these. 
The  efTect  upon  the  mental  attitude  of  pupil,  teacher,  and 
parent  is  excellent,  and  makes  an  admirable  beginning  in 
the  plan  of  vocational  direction. 

The  committee  are  now  in  a  position  where  they  must 
meet  a  demand  of  both  pupils  and  teachers  for  vocational 
enlightenment.    Pupils  should  have  detailed  information  in 


38  YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

the  form  of  inexpensive  handbooks  regarding  the  various 
callings  and  how  to  get  into  them,  wages,  permanence  of  em- 
ployment, chance  of  promotion,  etc.  Teachers  must  have  a 
broader  outlook  upon  industrial  opportunities  for  boys  and 
girls.  Even  those  teachers  who  know  their  pupils  well  gener- 
ally have  little  acquaintance  with  industrial  conditions.  The 
majority  can  advise  fairly  well  how  to  prepare  for  a  profes- 
sion, while  few  can  tell  a  boy  how  to  get  into  a  trade,  or  what 
the  opportunities  therein  are.  In  this  respect  our  teachers 
will  need  to  be  more  broadly  informed  regarding  social, 
industrial,  and  economic  problems.  We  have  to  face  a  more 
serious  problem  in  a  crowded  American  city  than  in  a  cotmtrj' 
where  children  are  supposed  to  follow  the  father's  trade. 

In  meeting  the  two  most  pressing  needs,  namely,  the  vo- 
cational enlightenment  of  teachers,  parents,  and  pupils,  and 
the  training  of  vocational  counselors,  we  shall  continue  to 
look  for  aid  to  the  Vocation  Bureau.  The  Bureau  has  been  of 
much  assistance  during  the  past  year,  in  fact  indispensable, 
in  matters  of  correspondence,  securing  information,  getting 
out  printed  matter,  and  in  giving  the  committee  counsel 
based  upon  a  superior  knowledge  of  men  and  conditions  in 
the  business  world. 

The  question  of  vocational  direction  is  merely  one  phase 
of  the  greater  question  of  vocational  education.  As  a  con- 
tributory influence  we  believe  serious  aggressive  work  in  this 
line  will  lead  to  several  definite  results,  aside  from  the  direct 
benefit  to  the  pupils.  It  will  create  a  demand  for  better  lit- 
erature on  the  subject  of  vocations.  It  will  help  increase  the 
demand  for  more  and  better  trade  schools.  It  will  cause 
teachers  to  seek  to  broaden  their  knowledge  of  opportunities 
for  mechanical  and  mercantile  training.  Lastly,  it  will  tend 
to  a  more  intelligent  and  generous  treatment  of  employees 
by  business  houses,  the  personal  welfare  and  prospects  of  the 
employee  being  taken  into  account  as  well  as  the  interests  of 
the  house  itself. 

What  some  of  the  specific  aims  and  acti\'ities  of  a 
vocation  bureau  are  may,  perhaps,  be  illustrated  by  a 
concrete  presentation  of  the  work  in  Boston. 


EDUCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  39 

The  general  aims  of  the  Boston  Vocation  Bureau 
are:  — 

1.  To  study  the  causes  of  the  waste  in  the  passing  of  un- 
giiidcd  and  untrained  young  people  from  school  to  work, 
and  to  assist  in  experiments  to  prevent  this  waste. 

2.  To  ficlp  parents,  teachers,  children,  and  others  in  the 
problems  of  thoughtfully  choosing,  preparing  for,  and 
advancing  in,  a  chosen  life-work. 

3.  To  work  out  programs  oj  cooperation  between  the  schools 
and  the  occupations,  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  both 
to  make  a  more  socially  profitable  use  of  talents  and 
opportunities. 

4.  To  publish  vocational  studies  from  the  point  of  view  of 
their  educational  and  other  efficiency  requirements,  and 
of  their  career-building  possibilities. 

5.  To  conduct  a  training  course  for  qualified  men  and 
women  who  desire  to  prepare  themselves  for  vocational- 
guidance  service  in  the  public-school  system,  philan- 
thropic institutions,  and  in  business  establishments. 

6.  To  maintain  a  clearing-hou^e  of  information  dealing  with 
life-career  problems. 

The  Vocation  Bureau's  activities,  it  will  be  noted, 
consist  of  individual  service,  investigations,  and  con- 
structive exi)eriments  in  the  fields  of  education  and 
employment. 

The  main  divisions  of  the  Bureau's  work  may  be 
grouped  under  the  following  heads :  — 

Clearing-house  for  vocational  guidance 

Offices  are  maintained  in  a  downtown  building  where 
books,  pamphlets,  reports,  press  and  magazine  cliji- 
pings,  manuscripts,  and  other  reference  material  are 
available  to  teachers,  i)arents,  investigators,  students. 


40    YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

and  others  who  call  for  information,  suggestions,  and 
help.  The  files  contain  the  best  material  thus  far  pro- 
curable in  this  country  and  abroad  bearing  on  life- 
career  problems. 

Research  and  publications 

Vocations  open  to  boys  and  young  men  are  carefully 
studied  in  accordance  with  the  scheme  later  presented 
here  and  the  results  are  published  in  tentative  pam- 
phlet form.  Three  months  has  been  the  minimum  time 
devoted  to  one  study.  Some  have  taken  longer  than  a 
year.  From  fifty  to  one  hundred  or  more  people  are 
consulted  personally  as  to  the  facts  in  each  occupation 
—  employers,  superintendents,  foremen,  workers  in 
their  homes  as  well  as  in  the  place  of  work,  union  oflfi- 
cials,  social  workers,  instructors,  and  other  authorities. 
In  each  case  the  manuscript  and  printed  proofs  go  back 
for  revision  and  correction  to  those  who  have  given 
trustworthy  information.  An  economist  reviews  final 
proofs  to  insure  statistical  accuracy. 
The  purpose  of  these  studies  is :  — 

1.  To  present  vocational  facts  simply  and  accurately. 

2.  To  make  accessible,  in  time,  a  body  of  information  as 
to  employments:  the  professions  as  well  as  the  trades, 
skilled,  semi-skilled,  and  unskilled;  the  business,  the 
homemaking  and  governmental  callings,  and  also  any 
new  and  significant  vocational  activities  of  men  and 
women. 

3.  So  far  as  possible  to  supply  parents,  teachers,  and  other 
interested  persons  with  the  material  necessary  for  an  in- 
telligent consideration  of  the  occupations,  their  needs. 


EDUCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  41 

(lemaml.s,  opportunities,  relative  desirability,  traiiiiriK 
requirements,  and  the  possibilities  they  offer  for  careers. 
4.  To  analyze  the  relation  of  voeatioiial  ai)titu(les,  inter- 
ests, and  habits  to  modern  industrial  demands,  and  thus 
lay  an  adequate  foumlation  for  a  system  of  training  re- 
gardful of  soeial  as  well  as  economic  needs. 

The  proper  utilization  of  such  material  should  make 
for  a  heightened  interest  in  the  community's  training 
opportunities,  and  should  make  the  fact  increasingly 
clear  that  society  will  gain  immensely  by  devoting  the 
adolescent  period  in  whole  or  in  part  to  preparation 
for  a  right  start  in  life.  Above  all,  such  studies  should 
help  toward  a  clearer  understanding  of  what  working 
life  ought  to  develop  in  social  as  well  as  in  wage-earn- 
ing efficiency. 

THE   PLAN  OF  THE  INVESTIGATION  OF 
OCCUPATIONS 

1.  To  gather  a  body  of  detailed  and  accurate  information 
as  to  the  various  occupations  f)pen  to  boys  and  yoimg 
men  in  skilled  and  unskilled,  professional,  and  other 
pursuits. 

2.  To  place  this  material  in  the  hands  of  teachers  and  vo- 
cational counselors. 

3.  To  use  this  information  in  advising  the  hundreds  of 
boys  and  young  men  who  come  to  the  Bureau  for  aid. 

4.  To  have  it  available  at  the  Bureau  for  general  public 
use. 

5.  To  make  it  the  basis  of  a  series  of  vocational  bulletins 
and  books. 

Methods 

1.  By  a  card  system  of  investigation,  touching  the  occu- 
pation at  fifty  points  of  vital  interest. 


42    YOUTH,  SCHOOL.  AND  VOCATION 

2.  By  studying  all  available,  carefully  selected,  firms  in 
an  industry. 

3.  By  going  through  factories,  workshops,  stores,  and 
places  where  young  p)ersons  are  employed,  to  study  con- 
ditions of  employment  at  first-hand. 

4.  By  personal  interviews  of  the  investigator  with  em- 
ployers, superintendents,  foremen,  and  employees  in  an 
occupation. 

5.  By  interviewing  officials  of  labor  unions,  clubs,  or  as- 
sociations representative  of  an  occupation. 

6.  By  verifying  all  material  upon  an  occupation  by  re- 
peated visits,  and  by  going  to  other  firms  or  individuals 
in  the  same  occupation. 

7.  By  a  wide  use  of  books  and  periodical  literature. 

The  firm 

1.  Name  of  firm  and  address. 

2.  Superintendent  or  employment  manager. 

3.  Total  number  of  employees,  male  and  female. 

4.  Numbers  of  girls  and  boys. 

5.  Shifting  in  relative  number  of  boys  and  girls,  if  any. 

6.  Unian,  non-union,  or  open  shop. 

7.  Will  the  employer  take  boys  sent  by  the  Vocation 
Bureau? 

8.  Will  he  attend  conferences  held  by  the  Bureau,  if  in- 
vited ? 

9.  Will  he  join  the  Employment  Managers'  Association.' 
10.  Every  effort  is  made  to  establish  cordial  cooperation. 

The  occupation 

1.  The  nature  of  the  occupation. 

2.  The  processes  of  manufacture  or  divisions  of  work  in- 
volved in  it. 

3.  The  variety  of  skill  required  for  entering  the  occupation. 

4.  Opportunities  for  changes  from  one  department  to 
another. 

5.  Employment  offered  seasonal  or  steady  through  the  year. 
G.  Physical  conditions  of  the  occupation. 


EDT  CATIONAL  GmDANCE  43 

7.  Special  dangers,  as  machinery,  dust,  moisture,  heat  or 
cold,  liard  labor,  strain,  monotony. 

8.  Competitive  coiiditioiis  and  future  of  the  industry. 

9.  Wliite  cards  used  to  show  pursuits  with  normal  con- 
ditions and  future;  colored  cards  for  "dead-end "  or  dan- 
gerous pursuits. 

Pay 

1.  Pay  at  the  beginning,  as  wages  or  salary,  and  hours  of 
employment. 

2.  Pay  of  certain  ages  and  various  groups. 

3.  Time  or  piece  payment,  premium  or  bonus. 

4.  The  rate  of  increase. 

5.  Upon  what  does  increase  in  pay  depend? 

6.  Minimum,  average,  and  maximum  pay  of  those  in  the 
occupation. 

The  hoy 

1.  How  boys  are  usually  secured  in  an  industry. 

2.  Wliat  previous  positions  they  have  held  elsewhere. 

3.  What  (juestions  asked,  tests  applied,  or  records  kept. 

4.  The  age  of  entering  the  occupation. 

5.  Educational  requirements. 

6.  The  advantages  of  various  kinds  of  educational  equip- 
ment. 

7.  Physical  and  personal  requirements. 

8.  Continuation  of  training  for  advancement  in  the  occu- 
pation. 

Positions  and  advancements 

1.  Positions  open  to  boys,  as  employees  in  factorj',  work- 
shop, or  salesroom. 

2.  Opportunities  for  advancement,  as  — 

a.  In  office. 

b.  Foreman  or  superintendent. 

c.  Buyer. 

d.  Traveling  salesman. 
c.  Manager. 

/.  Partnership  or  proprietor. 


44  YOUTH,   SCHOOL,   AND  VOCATION 

Comments  of  people 

1.  Comments  of  people  in  the  industry  as  to  its  nature, 
future,  and  what  it  offers  as  an  occupation  for  boys :  (a) 
of  the  employer  or  superintendent;  (6)  of  the  foreman  or 
floor  superintendent;  (c)  of  boys  now  employed  in  the 
occupation;  (d)  of  people  formerly  engaged  in  the  occu- 
pation or  who  may  have  intimate  or  expert  knowledge 
concerning  it. 

Other  information 

1.  Comment  and  report  upon  the  occupation  by  the  State 
Board  of  Health. 

2.  Statistics  of  the  Census  Bureau  upon  the  occupation  in 
Boston,  in  the  State,  and  in  the  United  States. 

3.  Bibliography  for  this  industry,  as  the  latest  books  or 
periodical  articles  dealing  with  it. 

4.  A  list  of  schools  giving  vocational  training  for  this  oc- 
cupation. 

Vocational  bulletins 

1.  From  the  material  on  the  vocational  cards,  from  books 
and  papers  upon  occupations,  and  from  other  informa- 
tion are  prepared  vocational  bulletins,  giving  as  leading 
points:  (a)  The  occupation,  its  nature,  conditions,  and 
future;  (6)  pay,  positions,  and  opportunities;  (c)  the  boy, 
qualities  and  training;  (d)  comments  of  people  in  the 
occupation;  (e)  health  reports;  (/)  census  statistics;  (g) 
bibliography;  (h)  schools. 

2.  For  verification  and  suggestion  these  bulletins  are  sub- 
mitted to  men  who  have  given  information  in  an  investi- 
gation and  to  other  persons  in  the  same  occupation,  in 
typewritten  and  in  proof  form. 

3.  These  bulletins  give  simple  and  direct  working  infor- 
mation upon  the  various  occupations  open  to  boys  and 
young  men  in  Greater  Boston. 

4.  They  are  for  the  use  of  the  Bureau,  of  teachers,  parents, 
boys,  and  others  interested  in  the  welfare  of  youth. 


EDUCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  45 

Work  with  the  Boston  schools 

One  of  the  i)riiicipal  provisions  in  the  arrangements, 
as  already  noted,  between  the  Boston  School  Com- 
mittee and  the  Vocation  Bureau  was  for  a  group  of 
teachers  to  be  known  as  vocational  counselors,  to  be 
appointed  by  their  respective  principals  and  to  repre- 
sent every  school  in  Boston.  The  teachers  so  appointed 
have  been  meeting  throughout  the  school  year  to  con- 
sider the  educational  opportunities  of  the  city,  the  vo- 
cational problems  of  the  children,  and  to  confer  with 
employers  and  others  who  have  been  invited  to  the 
sessions. 

The  work  of  the  vocational  counselors  has  been  a 
labor  of  love.  Nobody  has  expected  that  occupational 
meetings  could  alone  equip  for  effective  vocational 
guidance.  Important  results,  however,  have  come  out 
of  these  meetings. 

In  the  first  place,  every  school  in  the  city  has  had 
one  teacher  —  indeed,  in  some  schools,  committees  of 
teachers  have  formed  voluntarily  —  to  consider  the 
dropping  out  from  the  grades  of  many  boys  and  girls. 
These  teachers  are  personally  studying  the  home, 
street,  and  other  influences  which  steady  or  unsettle 
the  children  when  the  comi)ulsory  education  laws  no 
longer  restrain;  they  are  trying  to  discover  what  as- 
sistance a  school  can  give  to  parent  and  child  perplexed 
with  the  problems  of  a  life-career. 

There  is  plentiful  testimony  showing  that  fathers 


46    YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

and  mothers  now  turn  to  the  Boston  schools  as  never 
before  for  advice  and  help  concerning  their  children's 
future.  Questions  as  to  what  high  schools  or  vocational 
schools,  and  what  courses,  should  be  chosen  are  con- 
tinually coming  before  the  counselors.  The  abilities, 
the  interests,  faidts,  and  promising  tendencies  in  the 
children  are  topics  of  grave  discussion  between  parent 
and  teacher  or  principal,  the  point  of  view  being  not 
only  that  of  present  school  requirements,  but  also  that 
of  the  probable  careers  of  the  children.  In  the  class- 
rooms the  occupational  talks  have  been  repeated  in 
order  to  make  clear  the  eflBciency  requirements  of  the 
practical  world  outside.  School  programs  and  even 
commencement-day  programs  have  begun  to  show 
how  schools  are  facing  the  challenging  world  which  is 
soon  to  claim  the  productive  years  of  these  children. 
This  awakened  practical  interest  of  the  schools  in 
the  life-work  of  the  children  cannot  stop  short  of  com- 
prehensive supervision  and  protection  of  the  after- 
school  careers  of  boys  and  girls.  Already  teachers,  on 
their  own  initiative  and  with  an  expenditure  of  much 
time  and  energy,  have  gone  into  the  homes  of  their 
pupils,  and  have  sought  to  get  first-hand  knowledge  of 
the  industrial  environment.  If  our  schools  are  to  have 
any  guiding  relation  to  life,  —  and  all  educational  re- 
form clamors  for  this  relation, — teachers  must  be  given 
every  incentive  to  touch  in  such  personal  ways  the 
realities  of  the  life  which  their  pupils  will  experience. 


EDUCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  47 

The  Bureau  s  relations  with  employers 

The  Vocation  Bureau  realizes  that  a  sound  devel- 
opment of  its  work  depends  not  only  on  close  contact 
with  schools,  neighborhoods,  teachers,  parents,  and 
children,  but  also  with  employers,  business  organiza- 
tions, industrial  exj^erts,  and  the  occupations  them- 
selves in  all  their  ranges,  variety,  and  changes.  Occu- 
pational investigation,  fundamental  though  it  be,  is 
not  vocational  guidance.  The  investigation  deter- 
mines, to  be  sure,  what  kind  of  cooperation  is  possible 
or  desirable,  and  on  what  terms;  it  is  the  basis  of  vo- 
cational information,  of  program-making  for  special 
training  courses  in  schools,  and  of  social  and  legislative 
action;  but  the  vocational -guidance  idea  requires  that 
contact  with  the  employments  be  something  more  than 
onlooking.  Moreover,  there  are  well-endowed  agencies 
for  specialized  research.  A  vocation  bureau  must  in- 
deed be,  among  other  things,  a  research  agency;  never- 
theless, it  must  dei)end  for  some  of  its  most  valuable 
material  on  other  agencies,  such  as  bureaus  of  labor. 
Moreover,  its  work  nmst  not  duplicate  the  work  of  the 
child- welfare  agencies;  nor  solely  promote  vocational 
education  —  the  commissions  at  work  in  various  cities 
and  States  are  better  equipped  for  this  work.  It  is  the 
special  business  of  a  vocation  bureau  to  organize  that 
conscious  and  continuous  service  which  takes  hold  of 
the  child  when  the  life-career  motive  has  been  awak- 
ened, and  helps  guide,  strengthen,  and  protect  il,  i)ar- 


48    YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

ticularly  through  the  transition  crisis  between  school 
and  work. 

The  employer's  help  is  absolutely  essential  to  the 
success  of  such  a  plan.  To  fail  to  profit  by  his  criti- 
cism, by  his  point  of  view,  and  his  important  coopera- 
tive possibilities,  is  to  invite  failure.  The  Bureau, 
therefore,  is  in  close  touch  with  a  large  number  of  in- 
dustrial, commercial,  and  professional  establishments 
whose  officials  are  in  sympathy  ^\'ith  its  purposes. 

In  order  to  promote  the  employer's  contribution  to 
vocational  guidance,  the  Bureau  organized  in  1912  a 
conference  of  employment  managers,  probably  the 
first  organization  of  the  kind.  Men  representing  two- 
score  or  more  of  the  important  manufacturing  and 
business  establishments  of  Greater  Boston,  formed, 
in  December,  1912,  an  Employment  Managers'  As- 
sociation, whose  objects  are  defined  in  its  constitution 
as  follows :  — 

ARTICLE  I 

NAME   AND   OBJECT 

Section  1.  The  name  of  this  organization  shall  be  the 
Employment  Managers'  Association. 

Section  2.  The  objects  and  purposes  of  the  organization 
shall  be:  — 

1.  To  discuss  problems  of  employees;  their  training  and 
their  efficiency. 

2.  To  compare  experiences  wliich  shall  throw  light  on 
failures  and  successes  in  conducting  the  Employment  De- 
partment. 

3.  To  invite  experts  or  other  persons  who  have  knowledge 
of  the  best  methods  or  experiments  for  ascertaining  the  qual- 


EDUCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  49 

ifications  of  employees,  and  providing  for  their  advancement; 
and  more  particularly  to  study  the  questions  connected  with 
the  most  effective  emidoyment  of  young  people. 

When  employers  provide  for  vocational  guidance  as 
schools  are  now  beginning  to  do,  we  shall  find  a  basis 
of  cooperation  between  school  and  work  which  will 
help  solve  some  of  the  difficulties  which  now  vex  both 
school  and  occupation. 

The  main  purpose  of  a  vocation  bureau,  it  is  obvi- 
ous, and  of  all  educational  and  vocational  guidance, 
is  the  promotion  of  the  social  efficiency  of  those  who 
live  by  labor.  Through  fresh  devices  of  service  it 
strives  to  develop  the  life-career  possibilities  latent  in 
the  educative  process  and  in  the  vocations.  No  un- 
dertaking inspired  by  the  spirit  of  conservation  has  set 
before  itself  a  task  more  difficult,  nor  more  important. 


IV 

THE   ORGANIZATION   OF   VOCATIONAL 
GUIDANCE 

Obviously  the  carrying  out  of  a  plan  for  vocational 
guidance  must  ultimately  center  in  some  responsible 
and  competent  individual.  A  committee  or  an  asso- 
ciation can  do  much  in  stimulating  public  opinion  and 
in  organizing  resources.  But  such  work  done  well  re- 
quires that  it  be  the  special  business,  indeed,  the  life- 
work,  of  some  qualified  man  or  woman. 

Undoubtedly,  a  new  profession,  that  of  the  voca- 
tional counselor,  is  developing.  The  conditions  of  the 
time  call  for  it,  and  whatever  the  volunteer  may  do  in 
inspiring  young  people  for  the  serviceable  life,  it  is 
certain  that  professional  responsibility  can  alone  cope 
with  the  many  problems  in  this  work.  The  duties  of 
the  person  charged  with  the  management  of  a  voca- 
tion bureau  are  various.  They  cover  a  vnde  range  of 
activity  and  relationship.  They  call  for  study,  in- 
vestigation, and  energy. 

The  work  of  individual  guidance  is  delicate  and 
difficult.  Helping  to  develop  purpose,  to  light  the 
pathway  of  pursuits,  and  to  shape  the  careers  of  the 
doubting,  the  eager,  and  the  ambitious,  is  a  task  which 
calls  for  exceptional  qualities  of  intelligence  and  con- 
secration.   Fortunately,  the  idea  of  vocational  assist- 


ORGANIZATION        .  51 

ance  to  young  people  ai)peals  to  all  thinking  men  and 
women,  and  it  should  therefore  not  be  hard,  with  de- 
iinite  plan  and  energetic  purpose,  to  secure  a  large 
measure  of  cooperation. 
r         Now,  it  is  essential  for  any  community  which  un- 
^    dertakes  the  work  of  guidance  to   set  before  itself 
\^    the  steps  to  be  taken  or  avoided  in  this  enterprise. 
__   Later  in  this  chapter  will  be  discussed  some  of  the 
o    dangers  and  pitfalls  which  attend  the  work  of  voca- 
tional guidance.   The  purpose  here  is  to  outline  some 
details  of  organization  and  the  functions  of  the  voca- 
tional counselor,  executive  director,  or  whatever  may 
i^  be  the  name  for  the  person  in  charge. 
•^        The  first  suggestion  to  those  about  to  open  a  voca- 
^    tion  bureau  is  —  go  slowly.    If  the  right  foundations 
are  not  laid  before  actual  work  in  counseling  is  begun, 
3  it  is  certain  that  good  work  cannot  be  done.   At  least 
pa  year  should  be  devoted  to  a  preliminary  investi- 
J  gation  of  local  resources,  of  the  industrial  environ- 
ment, and  of  the  social  and  vocational  problems  of  the 
children. 
^     The  kind  of  study  to  be  made  is  well  shown  in  the 
^  following  examples :  — 

^  CHARTING  CHILDHOOD   IN   CINCINNATI 

o.  Helkn  Thompson  Woollev 

Director,  Cliild  Labor  Division,  Cincinnati  Public  Schools 

>j       'NMuMi  a  i)1iarm:uMsl  comiiouiids  a  jircscnption,  ho  knows 

what  effect  the  various  elements  have  on  eaeli  other.   lie  can 

■^  auulyze  them  eveu  after  tliey  have  iiiteraeteil  with  the  juiees 


52    YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

of  the  human  system.  When  a  manufacturer  starts  a  piece 
of  raw  material  on  the  road  toward  a  finished  product,  he  can 
account  for  the  smallest  change,  the  minutest  process.  But 
when  a  child  starts  on  the  bleak  road  which  leads  from  one 
deadening  occupation  to  another,  who  can  chart  his  path  or 
gauge  the  forces  that  mould  and  shape  his  future  life.'' 

To  do  this  very  thing  is  becoming  one  of  the  paramount 
purposes  of  educators.  The  task  is  enlisting  the  interest  of 
all  who  desire  a  saner  conservation  of  childhood.  The  boy 
and  girl  who  leave  school  untrained,  adolescent,  groping, 
are  more  and  more  seen  to  be  the  rawest  of  raw  materials. 
Society's  obligation  to  do  its  utmost  that  this  material  may 
increase  in  beauty  and  efficiency  is  no  longer  thought  to 
cease  when  the  school  door  closes. 

One  of  the  most  comprehensive  attempts  to  find  out  just 
what  industry  means  to  children  is  being  made  in  Cincinnati. 
This  attempt  was  made  possible  by  the  passage  of  a  unique 
child-labor  law,  which,  for  the  first  time  in  history,  gave  to 
one  ofiice  sufficient  authority  over  the  working  children  of 
a  community  to  permit  a  many-sided  study  of  a  large  group 
of  them.  While  this  study  has  not  been  completed,  some  ab- 
sorbing discoveries  can  be  forecasted,  entailing  some  equally 
absorbing  reflections  on  current  educational  movements. 
For  example,  we  are  making  a  special  investigation  of  eight 
hundred  school  children,  as  a  result  of  which  we  hope  to  be 
able  to  compare  the  rate  of  development,  mental  and  physi- 
cal, of  those  in  industry  and  those  in  school.  It  will  then  be 
possible  to  say  what  is  the  effect  of  industry  on  children  who 
enter  it  at  fourteen. 

The  eight  hundred  boys  and  girls  of  whom  we  are  making 
a  special  study  were  fourteen  years  old  when  they  left  school 
to  begin  work.  All  of  them  were  entering  some  industry,  not 
merely  helping  at  home.  All  were  native-born  white  children. 
Except  for  these  characteristics,  the  children  were  taken  at 
random,  as  fast  as  our  office  force  would  permit.  We  feel 
sure  that  the  series  adequately  represents  the  whole  group. 

The  scope  of  the  investigation  includes  a  study  of  the 
mental  and  physical  develoiincnt  of  children  in  industry 


ORGAXIZATION  53 

as  compared  with  children  of  corresponding  age  and  grade 
who  stay  in  school.  We  ar<'  stiidyin;^  in  detail  the  industrial 
life  of  the  working  children.  Finally,  we  are  investigating 
the  industries  themselves  in  which  the  children  engage. 

It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  we  hope  to  be  able 
to  compare  the  rate  of  mental  and  physical  development  of 
chiklren  in  industry  with  that  of  children  in  school.  We  can 
also  study  the  chiklren  who  do  not  succeed  industrially  and 
find  out  whether  their  failure  is  to  be  attributed  to  the  chil- 
dren themselves,  to  the  home,  to  the  .school,  or  to  the  in- 
dustry. By  discovering  what  relation  there  is,  if  any,  be- 
tween a  child's  mental  and  physical  tests  and  his  success  or 
failure  in  various  kinds  of  industry,  we  can  throw  some  light 
on  the  problem  of  vocational  guidance. 

Meanwhile  all  the  records  we  are  collecting  about  the 
industrial  experiences  of  the  children  themselves  —  the  kind 
of  work  open  to  them,  their  earnings,  increases  of  pay,  the 
amount  of  unemployment  among  them,  their  reasons  for 
changes  of  position,  and  their  attitude  toward  work  and 
school  —  will  be  indispensable  in  deciding  upon  a  program 
of  industrial  education  or  of  vocational  guidance.  A  study  of 
the  industries  is  equally  necessary  in  both  these  problems. 
The  information  about  industries  may  be  cast  in  the  form  of 
bulletins  for  the  use  of  teachers  and  parents. 

An  outline  of  the  work  of  the  Educational  and  Voca- 
tional Guidance  Department  of  the  schools  of  Newton, 
Massachusetts,  recently  organized,  aLso  illustrates  the 
care  with  which  responsible  people  undertake  voca- 
tional-guidance projects  in  a  school  system.  There  are 
three  distinct  duties  of  the  dei)artment:  (1)  The  charge 
of  all  school-attendance  records  including  the  school 
census  and  the  enforcement  of  school-attendance  laws; 
(2)  the  granting  of  work  certificates;  (3)  educational 
and  vocational  guidance  work.    The  keeping  of  chil- 


54     YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

dren  in  school  is  considered  a  most  important  part  of 
the  work  and  much  care  is  taken  in  checking  up  the 
records  each  year  and  investigating  children  who  are 
not  enrolled  in  the  schools. 

Considerable  guidance  work  is  done  in  connection  with 
the  issuing  of  work  certificates  with  the  result  that  some 
children  have  been  persuaded  to  continue  at  school.  This 
applies  especially  to  children  under  sixteen  who  are  carefully 
questioned  in  regard  to  the  necessity  of  going  to  work  and 
home  conditions  when  they  apply  for  certificates,  and  this 
information  is  checked  up  by  communicating  with  the 
principal  of  the  school  last  attended.  With  the  group  over 
sixteen  years  of  age  an  endeavor  is  made  to  keep  track  of 
their  progress  and  advise  them  particularly  against  frequent 
change  of  position,  and  to  get  them  interested  in  evening 
courses  offered  either  in  Newton  or  Boston  which  would  help 
them. 

Two  investigations  have  been  made ;  one  of  pupils  attend- 
ing the  Newton  Evening  Schools,  and  the  other  of  those  who 
had  been  members  of  the  Vocational  School  for  six  months 
or  longer.  The  purpose  of  the  first  study  was  to  ascertain 
the  needs  of  those  attending  the  evening  schools  as  indicated 
by  their  previous  school  history  and  industrial  record.  The 
connection  between  the  course  followed  in  school  and  the 
kinds  of  work  done  since  leaving  school  and  the  success  at- 
tained were  the  reasons  for  the  second  study.  Both  investi- 
gations have  helped  in  indicating  the  needs  of  children  for 
which  the  department  should  provide. 

A  beginning  was  also  made  in  collecting  information  con- 
cerning high-school  courses,  and  a  pamphlet  on  the  courses 
offered  in  the  Vocational  School  has  been  published.  The 
Technical  High  School  published  a  similar  pamphlet  on  the 
Fine  Arts  Course.  These  pamphlets  are  for  the  use  of  pupils 
about  to  leave  the  grammar  grades,  and  are  intended  to  help 
them  and  their  parents  in  deciding  which  high-school  course 
should  be  chosen. 


ORGANIZATION  55 

Frequent  vocational  conferences  should  be  held, 
attended  by  the  representatives  of  all  the  interests 
that  may  be  expected  to  coojjerate.  The  business  man, 
the  manufacturer,  the  labor-union  official,  the  sch(K)l- 
teacher,  the  attendance  officer,  and  the  social  worker 
are  all  needed  in  such  conferences.  It  should  be  made 
the  duty  of  some  committee  with  a  well-paid  secre- 
tary, who  may  be  regarded  as  in  training  for  the  even- 
tual position  of  vocational  counselor,  to  make  a  careful 
canvass  of  the  educational  and  vocational  opportuni- 
ties in  the  town,  city,  or  country,  and  get  into  personal 
relation  with  working  children  and  their  parents  in 
order  to  understand  their  problems.  Chapters  of  this 
vocational  survey  may  be  made  the  topics  for  discus- 
sion at  regular  meetings.  One  of  the  main  results  of 
these  conferences  will  be  a  consensus  of  opinion  as  to 
what  is  to  be  done  in  the  proposed  vocation  bureau. 
Some  will  aim  for  an  educational  program,  some  for 
an  apprenticeship  arrangement  in  local  industries,  and 
others  again  for  the  placing  of  boys  and  girls  in  shops 
and  stores.  All  these  views  represent  elements  of  value 
to  the  project,  but  time  and  patient  discussion  and 
knowing  the  facts  can  alone  develoj)  a  program  which 
will  receive  general  supjjort. 

It  may  be  that  differences  of  viewpoint  will  show 
one  party  aiming  for  the  short  haul  of  immediate  re- 
sults, and  another  for  the  longer  haul  of  social  and 
educational  readjustment.  No  little  skill  will  be  re- 
quired to  shape   a  work  which,  while  serving  urgent 


56    YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

and  perhaps  immediate  needs,  yet  points  unhesitat- 
ingly toward  the  infinitely  more  important  task  of 
laboring  for  the  right  conditions,  the  right  education, 
and  a  public  sentiment  which  will  deal  constructively 
with  the  vocational  interests  of  young  people  before 
they  become  problems. 

The  person  selected  to  conduct  a  vocation  bureau 
must  possess  executive  ability,  initiative,  resourceful- 
ness, and  an  education  which  combines  academic  and 
industrial  knowledge  with  social-service  experience. 
It  may  well  be  that  a  working  man  or  woman  who 
has  earned  a  college  education  will  be  found  best 
qualified.  It  is  also  likely  that  some  one  occupying  a 
responsible  position  in  a  business  or  educational  in- 
stitution, and  possessing  social  vision  as  well  as  keen 
interest  in  the  problems  of  youth,  may  be  of  the  type 
desired.  The  method  used  by  the  Boston  Chamber  of 
Commerce  in  selecting  men  as  members  or  paid  secre- 
taries for  committees  is  suggestive.  A  terse  and  definite 
plan  is  laid  out  for  the  committee  under  consideration. 
The  type  of  man  desired  and  a  list  of  qualifications 
that  he  should  possess  are  agreed  upon.  The  names 
suggested  are  then  marked  according  to  the  degree  and 
special  fitness  for  the  ser\"ice  in  question.  A  blank 
form  made  up  for  this  purpose  is  used,  and  those  who 
are  given  the  highest  rating  are  iuNnted  to  serve. 

The  type  of  person  suitable  for  the  position  of  vo- 
cational director  can  as  a  rule  best  be  determined  by 
the  residents  of  the  locality  interested.   A  rural  com- 


ORGANIZATION  57 

munity  or  a  small  town  will  probably  call  for  quali- 
fications different  from  those  which  a  city  vocation 
bureau  requires.  The  predoniinunt  vocational  in- 
terests of  a  community  are  an  important  element  in 
determining  the  type  of  director.  It  should  be  re- 
membered that  the  committee  which  chooses  its  ex- 
ecutive is  doing  a  work  of  vocational  guidance,  and 
it  must  apply,  in  a  sense,  the  principles  which  are  to 
guide  their  own  executive  in  the  work. 

The  relations  between  the  counselor  and  the  appli- 
cant cannot  be  formal,  oflBcial,  or  temporary.  They 
must  be  friendly,  intimate,  and  more  or  less  contin- 
uous. What  makes  the  appointment  of  vocational 
directors  or  counselors  in  schools,  settlements,  or 
like  organizations  so  desirable  is  the  opportunity 
for  long  contact  with  individuals.  A  single  interview 
is  seldom  sufficient  for  service  that  is  worth  while. 
Parents  and  teachers  who  enjoy  years  of  opportunity 
for  studying  the  make-up  of  a  boy  or  girl  find  it  hard 
enough  to  ascertiiin  the  vocational  bent  of  the  child. 
Prolonged,  earnest  effort  on  the  part  of  the  counselor 
is  imperative,  and  a  corresponding  effort  on  the  part 
of  the  applicant,  or  the  service  fails  of  results. 

No  better  example  of  thorough  vocational  help  can 
be  found  than  the  work  of  the  Vocational  Scholarship 
Committee  of  the  Henry  Street  Settlement,  New  York. 
This  committee  was  organized  about  five  years  ago, 
in  order  to  help  children  become  efficient  workers  and 
avoid  the  "blind  alley"  trades. 


58    YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

To  make  it  possible  for  these  children  to  have  both 
guidance  and  training,  this  settlement  gradually  de- 
veloped the  idea  of  giving  scholarships  for  two  years, 
for  definite  training  to  boys  and  girls  between  the  ages 
of  fourteen  and  sixteen,  who  could  legally  go  to  work 
and  whose  families  could  not  afford  to  give  them 
further  education  than  the  law  requires.  This  com- 
mittee has  learned  the  important  truth  that  free  schools 
are  a  mockery  unless  children  are  free  to  use  them. 

In  1908  the  committee  granted  one  scholarship,  the 
next  year  this  number  was  increased  to  five,  and  since 
then  the  work  has  gradually  increased.  The  com- 
mittee has  given  a  total  of  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
six  scholarships  during  the  five  years,  and  fifty-one 
of  these  children  have  completed  their  course  and  are 
now  working.  Three  dollars  a  week,  or  one  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars  a  year,  is  the  maximum  of  any  one 
scholarship,  which  is  somewhat  less  than  the  child 
would  probably  be  earning. 

Applications  for  scholarships  come  from  all  parts 
of  Manhattan  and  the  Bronx,  through  club  leaders, 
settlement  residents,  school-teachers  and  visitors,  the 
district  nurse,  charitable  societies,  and  various  other 
sources.  At  the  monthly  committee  meeting  the  ap- 
plications are  presented  by  the  secretary,  and  the  com- 
mittee makes  its  awards  to  those  children  who  seem 
to  be  in  greatest  need.  The  children  are  advised  as  to 
trade  training  and  schools.  The  girls  are  being  taught 
dressmaking,    millinery,    hand-embroidery,    sample- 


ORGANIZATION  50 

mounting,  box-making,  costume  designing  and  illus- 
trating, and  several  are  taking  commercial  (rourses. 
The  boys  are  i)reparing  to  be  carpenters,  electricians, 
printers,  and  mechanics.  Some  children  are  kept  in 
the  elementary  schools  until  they  graduate  before 
they  are  entered  in  the  trade  school. 

Records  are  carefully  kej)t  of  the  fifty-one  children 
who  have  finished  their  training  and  have  gone  to 
work.  The  comparison  of  their  wages  with  those  of 
fifty-one  children  of  the  same  age,  taken  from  the 
records  of  the  Alliance  Employment  Bureau,  which 
places  children  carefully,  is  a  most  interesting  one,  and 
proves  conclusively,  at  least  for  this  small  number, 
that  the  children  who  have  had  two  years  of  train- 
ing are  able  to  earn  a  much  higher  wage  than  those 
who  go  to  work  without  any  previous  training.  The 
average  wages  of  the  untrained  children  who  have  been 
working  six  months  is  $4.30  a  week,  and  that  of  the 
trained  children,  $6.85.  Of  the  children  working  one 
year  the  average  wage  of  those  unskilled  is  $5.10;  that 
of  the  trained  children,  $9.50.  Of  the  children  work- 
ing two  years  the  average  wage  of  the  untrained  chil- 
dren is  $5.85;  that  of  the  trained  children,  $10.24, 

That  all  guidance  and  training  activities  will  some 
day  be  supplemented  by  jiro visions  for  economic 
assistance,  nobody  who  cares  for  children  can  doubt. 
The  work  at  Henry  Street  is  proj)hetic.  Children  that 
mu.st  work  cannot  enjoy  that  equality  of  oi){)ortunity 
which  our  publicly  sui)portcd  school  system  implies. 


60  YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

Of  special  importance  is  the  economic  equipment  of 
the  counselor.  Guesswork  and  vague  generalizations 
about  social  problems  and  conditions  of  employment 
will  properly  discredit  the  work.  An  essential  element 
in  the  counselor's  service  is  expert  knowledge  of  what 
is  going  on  in  a  store,  factory,  or  office.  He  must  in- 
vestigate, interpret,  and  know  how  to  apply  vocational 
facts. 

At  present  it  is  doubtful  whether  psychological  tests 
of  the  ordinary  sort  can  be  used  to  much  advantage 
by  the  counselor.  Laboratory  psychology  is  not  far 
enough  advanced  to  enable  one  to  fathom  bent  and 
aptitude  by  formal  tests  of  concentration,  sensitivity, 
imagination,  and  the  like. 

With  the  progress  of  research,  evidence  of  lines  of 
strength  and  weakness  in  various  psychological  tests 
will  become  more  and  more  useful  to  the  counselor. 
Since  the  first  edition  of  this  book  was  issued,  five 
years  ago,  the  early  diagnosis  of  general  intellectual 
ability  of  the  abstract  type,  such  as  is  required  of  sci- 
entific workers,  lawyers,  and  teachers,  has  been  made 
more  feasible  by  certain  investigations,  notably  those 
of  Spearman  and  Thorndike  and  their  pupils.  Tests 
of  important  features  of  clerical  capacity  —  such  as 
ability  to  observe,  compare,  arrange,  and  judge  items 
of  words,  numbers,  and  the  like  rapidly  and  accurately 
—  have  been  put  in  shape  by  Thorndike  for  actual  use 
in  the  selection  of  employees.  It  appears  that  if  facili- 
ties for  competent  research  are  provided,  the  general 


ORGANIZATION 


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62    YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

decision  concerning  relative  fitness  for  (1)  advanced 
education  for  expert  scientific,  technical,  or  profes- 
sional service;  (2)  clerical  or  office  work;  and  (3)  me- 
chanical or  trade  and  factory  work  can  be  based  in 
part  upon  a  psychological  inventory  taken  as  early  as 
the  age  of  fifteen.  The  matter  of  fitness  for  (4)  work 
at  influencing  men,  as  in  salesmanship  or  executive 
work,  is  still  more  difficult  to  measure  in  childhood, 
but  even  here  systematic  tests  of  early  symptoms  of 
eflBciency  may  be  devised  that  will  be  of  practical  serv- 
ice in  connection  with  the  general  history,  provided 
it  be  systematically  secured,  of  the  individual's  abili- 
ties, interests,  and  training. 

Mental  measurements  in  vocational  guidance  [writes 
Professor  Carl  Seashore]  have  their  chief  value  with  refer- 
ence to  the  more  highly  specialized  vocations.  This  is  so 
mainly  for  the  reason  that  measurement  to  be  effective  must 
be  specific  and  intensive.  We  do  not  measure  "things  in 
general."  If  a  boy  is  brought  into  my  laboratory  to  find  out 
what  he  should  do  in  life,  he  is  turned  away  for  the  more 
specific  formulation  of  his  problem.  But  if  he  asks  what 
qualifications  he  has  for  this  or  that  specific  occupation,  we 
can  in  some  instances  furnish  him  correspondingly  specific 
information.  Thus,  if  he  aspires  to  be  a  musician,  his  musical 
talents  may  be  measured  with  the  utmost  care.  We  have  a 
special  equipment  for  that  purpose  and  can  make  as  many 
as  one  hundred  specific  measurements,  all  parts  of  a  fairly 
complete  system,  for  the  survey  of  musical  talent. 

We  measure  his  natural  capacity  for  hearing  pitch,  time, 
and  intensity  of  sound,  and  his  natural  power  in  producing 
these  by  voice  or  instrument.  Then  we  measure  his  musical 
imagery,  memory,  association,  and  judgment,  and  analyze 
the  character  of  his  musical  feeling,  both  by  subjective  and 
objective  testii.   In  all  these  cases  our  interest  is  directed  to 


ORGANIZATION  03 

natural,  inherited  capacity  as  opposed  to  acquired  ability  or 
skill. 

Fronj  these  measurements  we  construct  a  nnisical  "talent 
chart."  which  is  a  ])icture  in  which  the  expert,  the  teacher, 
and  even  the  youth  himself,  can  see  at  a  glance  a  quantita- 
tive outline  of  his  musical  qualifications.  There  are  the  rea- 
sons for  or  against  entering  upon  a  music-al  career,  so  far  as 
natural  capacity,  and,  therefore,  the  chances  of  success  are 
concerned.  There  is  seen  which  kind  of  music  he  is  best  quali- 
fied for,  what  are  his  prospects  for  the  speedy  acquisition  of 
skill  in  each  of  the  fimdamcntal  aspects  of  music,  and  the 
phase  he  needs  to  give  .special  attention  to.  If  he  is  already 
in  the  vocation  and  has  encountered  tlifficulties,  there  is  a 
qualitative  analysis  of  the  conditions  of  his  case. 

With  reference  to  qualifications  for  more  general  occupa- 
tions, the  measurement  can,  of  course,  not  be  made  so  ex- 
liaustive,  but  certain  psychophysic  tests  may  well  be  made 
to  determine  if  there  is  any  defect  which  would  seriously 
stand  in  the  way  of  success  in  a  chosen  career. 

A  thorough  acquaintance  with  local  and  other  coop- 
erating resources  is  needed  by  the  counselor,  and  his 
facility  in  connecting  the  appropriate  resources  with 
the  needs  of  the  individual  applicant  will  count  for 
much  in  his  work.  The  bureau  can  only  in  the  course 
of  years  and  with  a  large  exi:)enditure  of  money  become 
the  repository  for  every  kind  of  information  that  may 
be  called  for.  An  important  part  of  the  counselor's 
program  is  the  skillful  utilization  of  existing  sources  of 
information  and  service.  There  are  men  and  women 
in  almost  every  occui)ation  who  would  be  willing  to 
cooperate  with  the  bureau,  serving  as  special  advisers 
and  perhaps  employers  for  selected  individuals.  It  is 
not  to  be  supposed  that  the  bureau  director  can  master 


64  YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  /\ND  VOCATION 

the  important  details  of  every  pursuit.  Problems  may 
arise  with  reference  to  the  ability  or  the  circumstances 
of  some  particular  young  man  or  young  woman,  and 
the  help  of  a  representative  of  the  trade  or  profession 
in  question,  acting  as  a  vocational  "big  brother,"  will 
prove  of  great  value. 

The  guidance  of  youth  in  vocations  cannot,  of  course, 
confine  its  outlook  to  the  mechanical  or  commercial 
alone.  The  multiplication  of  vocational  schools,  in- 
cluding those  in  medicine,  dentistry,  and  law;  the  in- 
ferior standards  and  the  pecuniary  motives  of  many  of 
them;  and  the  overcrowding  of  the  liberal  professions 
by  the  unfit  and  the  ill-equipped,  give  rise  to  questions 
of  the  gravest  character  in  advising  as  to  these  careers. 
Professor  Felix  Adler  has  said  that  one  of  the  difficul- 
ties he  has  encountered  in  advising  young  men  was  in 
impressing  them  with  the  gap  between  their  admiration 
and  their  endowments  for  a  vocation.  The  counselor's 
duty  of  stimulating  is  great,  but  it  is  primarily  his  busi- 
ness to  deal  with  facts. 

There  is  an  important  literature  which  the  counselor 
must  familiarize  himself  with.  Vocational  handbooks 
such  as  Trades  for  London  Boys,  and  Trades  for  London 
Girls,  Mrs.  Ogilvie  Gordon's  Handbook  of  Employ- 
ments, and  others,  may  be  found  in  the  public  libraries 
and  should  be  part  of  every  school  and  counselor's 
library.  Unfortunately,  we  have  not  as  yet  in  this 
country  a  sufficient  variety  of  cheap  and  practical  vo- 
cational primers  giving  the  results  of  expert  study  of 


ORG^VNIZATION  G5 

occupations  similar  to  those  published  in  various  Ger- 
man and  English  cities.  One  series  of  tiny  booklets 
published  in  Leipzig,  and  costing  not  more  than  a  few 
cents  apiece,  covers  almost  one  hundred  dilFercnt 
vocations,  —  the  chemist,  the  tinsmith,  the  teacher, 
the  merchant,  the  cook,  the  waiter,  the  druggist,  the 
farmer,  the  sailor,  the  tapestry-maker,  and  many 
others.  What  am  I  To  Be  ?  is  the  title  of  this  series. 
The  London  County  Council  pamphlets  are  models 
of  their  kind.^ 

The  Boston  Vocation  Bureau  vocational  booklets 
present  the  results  of  investigations  in  the  following 
way:  — 

VOCATIONS  FOR  BOSTON   BOYS 

Nature  of  Occupation.   Shoe  Manufacture. 
Date  of  inquiry.   July  1,  1910. 

Name  of  Firm 

Address 


Superintendent  or  Employment  Manager 

rw,      ,  L        <         1  S  Male,  2730. 

Total  number  of  employees  |  p^^^,^^  ^^^^ 

Number  of  boys,  1200;  girls,  1000. 

Has  there  been  a  shifting  in  relative  numbers  of  each?  No. 
There  is  fixed  work  for  each. 

PAY 

Wages  of  various  groups,  and  ages.  Errand  boys,  counters, 
carriers,  lU  years  old,  $3.50;  assemblers,  CLssistants,  pattern 
boys,  16  years,  $3.50  to  BO;  lasters,  20  years,  $G  to  S7;  other 
work,  20  years  or  more,  $8  to  $12  for  young  men  in  early  ein- 
'ploynient. 

Wages  at  beginning.  $3.50  to  $6. 

Seasonal.  By  year. 

1  Sec  Appendix. 


66    YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

Hours  per  day.  7.30  A.M.  to  5.30  P.M.  To  12  M .  on  Saturday 

in  summer.  One  hour  nooning. 
Rate  of  increase.    This  is  very  irregular,  averaging  Bl  per 

week  each  year. 

a.  On  what  dependent?  Not  at  all  on  age,  but  on  ability  and 
position  filled,  or  on  increase  in  skill  in  a  certain  process. 

b.  Time  or  piece  payment  —  any  premiums  or  bonus?  66% 
piece  payment.  Premium  on  certain  lines  for  quality  and 
quantity  of  work,  neatness  of  departments,  etc. 

BOYS 

How  are  boys  secured?  By  application  to  firm,  by  advertising, 

and  by  employees.   It  is  impossible  to  find  enough. 
Their  ages.   Fourteen  years  and  up. 
Previous  jobs.    Nearly  all  boys  come  into  this  industry  from 

school.   A  few  come  from  other  shoe  factories,  or  from  retail 

shoe  stores. 
Previous  schooling.  Grammar  school,  or  a  certificate  of  literacy 

or  attendance  at  night  school  must  be  presented. 
Are  any  continuing  this  training?  Yes.  \Miere?  In  public 

evening  schools,  Y.M.C.A.  classes,  and  Continuation  School 

in  Boston. 

THE  INDUSTRY 

a.  Physical  conditions.  Most  sanitary,  with  modern  im- 
provements and  safeguards,  unth  hospital  department  and 
trained  nurses. 

h.  ^^^lat  variety  of  skill  required?  Some  mechanical  skill. 
The  ordinary  boy  of  good  sense  can  easily  learn  all  proc- 
esses. 

c.  Description  of  processes  (photos  if  possible).  Errand 
boys,  counters,  carriers,  assemblers,  assistants,  pattern 
boys,  lasters,  trimmers,  and  work  dicing,  tcelting,  and  iron- 
ing shoes.  Also  in  office,  salesman,  foreman,  manager,  or 
superintendent. 

d.  WTiat  special  dangers. 

Machinery.   The  chief  danger  arises  from  carelessness. 
Dust.   Modern  dust  removers  arc  used. 
Moisture.  Not  to  excess. 


ORGANIZATION  G7 

Hard  luljor.    Steady  labor  rather  than  hard. 
Strain.   Not  excessive. 

Monotony.   Considerable  on  automatic  machines. 
Competitive  conditions  of  indnstry.   New  Eiujland  is  a  great 
center  of  the  shoe  industry.   There  is  extreme  competition,  but 
vnth  a  world  market. 
Future  of  industry.  The  future  of  a  staple  product  in  universal 

demand. 
What  chance  for  grammar-school  boy.'  lie  would  begin  at  tlie 

bottom  as  errand  boy. 
Higli-scliool  gratUiate?   In  office,  or  in  wholesale  department, 

to  become  salesman,  or  manager. 
Vocational-school   graduate?     Trade  school,   giving  factory 

equipment,  would  be  best. 
What  opportunity  for  the  worker  to  show  what  he  can  do  in 
other  departments?    The  superintendent  and  f(rreman  study 
the  boy  and  place  him  where  it  seems  best  for  him  and  for  tlie 
firm. 

TESTS 

Wliat  kind  of  boy  is  desired?  Honest,  bright,  healthy,  strong. 
Unys  living  at  home  are  preferred. 

\\hat  c|uestions  asked  of  applicant?  As  to  home,  education, 
experience,  and  lohy  leaving  any  former  position. 

Wiat  tests  applied?  For  office  work,  writing,  and  figuring. 

What  reconls  kept?  (Collect  all  printed  questionnaires  and 
records.)  Name,  address,  age,  nationality,  married  or  single, 
living  at  home  or  boarding,  pay,  date  of  entering  and  of  leav- 
ing. 

T^nion  or  non-imion?   Open  shop. 

Comment  of  employer.  Education  is  better  for  the  boy  and  for 
us. 

Will  he  take  boys  sent  by  Vocation  Bureau?    Yes. 
Will   he   attend   Vocation   Bureau    conferences   if    asked? 
(iladly. 

Conunent  of  foreman.  Employment  bureaus  have  failed  us. 
We  look  everywhere  for  boys,  but  find  few  such  as  we  want. 
The  average  boy  can  apply  himself  here  so  as  to  be  well  placed 
in  life. 


68 


YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 


Comment  of  boys.  We  have  a  bowling-alley,  reading-room, 
and  library,  park,  and  much  to  make  service  here  pleasant. 
It  is  something  like  school  still.  We  mean  to  stay.  Piece-work 
will  give  us  good  pay  by  the  time  we  are  twenty  years  old. 

Health  Board  comments.  Inhaling  naphtha  from  cements  and 
dust  from  leather-working  machines,  and  overcrowding  and 
overheating  workrooms,  are  to  be  guarded  against  in  this  oc- 
cupation. The  danger  of  each  injurious  process  may  be  pre- 
vented by  proper  care. 

Census  Bureau  Report  on  this  Occupation,  Massachusetts,  1908 


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23,187 

»16y,95-,116 

Bibliography,  T^e  S/foe  Mantifacturing  Industry  in  New  Eng- 
land. I.  K.  Bailey  {New  England  States,  v.  i,  1897),  and 
Massachusetts  Labor  Bulletin,  No.  14,  May,  1910. 

School  fitting  for  this  occupation.  The  Boston  Continuation 
School. 


Investigator. 

This  information  gathered  from  these  cards  has  been 
transcribed  into  narrative  form  for  the  use  of  teach- 
ers, and  portions  of  some  specimen  bulletins  are  here 
given :  — 

Banking 

In  the  lowest  position  in  banking,  that  of  errand  boy,  boys 
receive  $4  and  $5  a  week.  For  regular  messenger  service  the 
pay  begins  at  $6  a  week  or  $300  a  year,  increasing,  on  an 
average,  at  the  rate  of  $100  a  year.  Young  men  as  check- 
tellers,  clerks,  bookkeepers,  and  bond  salesmen  receive  from 


ORGANIZATION  C9 

$800  to  $1000  a  year.  The  average  bank  employee  in  Boston 
receives  $1100  a  year.  Tellers,  who  must  he  responsible  ami 
able  men  of  thirty  years  or  over,  have  salaries  ranging  from 

pi^am  to  $.'j;5()o. 

Savings  banks  pay  somewhat  higher  salaries  and  offer  a 
better  future  to  one  who  must  remain  in  the  ranks  of  the 
business. 

Bank  officers  receive  higher  salaries  now  than  bank  presi- 
dents did  twenty  years  ago.  Officers  and  heads  of  depart- 
ments in  a  banking-house  are  not  always  taken  from  the 
employees;  they  are  often  selected  by  a  firm  from  its  ac- 
quaintance in  the  banking  world. 

Rarely  are  boys  employed  in  the  banking  industry  under 
sixteen  years  of  age,  which  is  the  more  general  age  for  enter- 
ing. Some  firms  will  not  employ  them  under  nineteen  years 
of  age  on  account  of  the  great  responsibility  of  the  messenger 
service.  Boys  must  be  gentlemanly,  neat-appearing,  intel- 
ligent, honest,  business-like,  and  able  to  concentrate  their 
minds  ui)on  their  daily  work. 

The  ordinary  high-school  education  is  the  general  require- 
ment for  banking.  Some  boys  enter  the  business  without 
completiTig  the  high-school  courses,  but  are  consequently 
often  unable  to  make  proper  advancement.  Courses  in  busi- 
ness schools  are  desirable,  and  one  should  have  fair  training 
in  mathematics  and  bookkeeping  and  be  a  good  penman.  In 
one  banking-house  investigated,  having  195  employees,  there 
were  but  three  college  graduates,  one  being  the  cashier. 
Banking  men  wish  that  this  condition  were  different,  hut  be- 
lieve that  it  is  best  for  those  who  enter  the  occupation  to  do 
so  early  in  life.  A  second  reason  for  this  is  that  the  average 
pay  of  the  bank  employee  does  not  appeal  to  the  college 
man. 

The  physical  conditions  of  the  occupation  are  of  the  highest 
grade.  Tliere  is  moral  danger  to  young  men  on  the  specula- 
tive side  of  the  stock  and  bond  business,  and  no  broker  is  al- 
lowed to  receive  orders  from  a  clerk  of  another  firm. 

There  is  keen  competition  among  national  banks  and  trust 
companies  in  bidding  for  (lei>osits,  and  in  the  stock  and  bond 
business  for  speculation  anil  investment.  There  is  little  com- 


70    YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

petition  among  savings  banks  and  cooperative  banks.  These 
have  their  lists  of  depositors,  and  interest  rates  are  controlled 
b}'  business  conditions. 

The  business  of  the  future  in  all  lines  will  be  excellent  be- 
cause of  the  vital  connection  of  the  banking  business  with 
the  money  system  of  the  country,  and  with  all  lines  of  ac- 
tivity in  the  financial  and  industrial  world. 

Comments  by  people  in  the  business 

"Messenger  service  is  the  first  stepping-stone  in  banking. 
A  boy  should  realize  that  here  lies  his  opportunity.  The 
careless  messenger  will  be  a  careless  bookkeeper  or  clerk  and 
an  unsuccessful  bank  man." 

"The  chances  of  a  boy  are  better  in  some  respects  in  the 
small  bank  than  in  the  large  one.  In  the  small  bank  one 
learns  all  parts  of  the  business  and  has  a  much  better  future. 
The  successful  men  in  such  firms  are  often  chosen  as  officers 
in  the  large  firms." 

"  Bank  combinations  in  Boston  in  recent  years  have  given 
prominence  to  men  who  had  achieved  success  in  their  smaller 
field,  or  in  their  particular  form  of  banking  experience." 

"  Service  in  a  bank  is  educational,  even  if  one  does  not  re- 
main, in  methods  and  mental  training.  But  the  person  who 
goes  out  in  middle  life  finds  it  difficult  to  get  a  position  in  the 
business  world." 

"A  boy  should  get  into  the  credit  department  of  a  bank- 
ing house,  where  he  may  come  in  contact  with  the  cashier 
or  president." 

"  Savings  banks  do  not  generally  take  boys  direct  from 
school.  Age,  maturity,  and  some  kind  of  business  experience 
are  desired." 

"  Investment  in  stocks  and  bonds  is  a  great  business  and 
calls  for  high  intelligence." 

"  Character  comes  first,  for  banking  is  a  business  of  con- 
tinual trusting  in  men.  Banks  are  willing  to  paj-  for  hon- 
esty, energy,  brains,  and  good  judgment." 

"  Banking  calls  for  ability  to  judge  human  nature  and  to 
carry  many  details  in  mind,  for  accurate  and  rapid  thought, 
and  for  clear  and  firm  decision." 


ORGANIZATION  71 

"Every  consolidation  l)rinf;.s  a  soarcli  for  tho  hest  men, 
and  every  bank  is  looking  for  the  rij^lit  kind  of  young  man." 

"There  is  a  good  future  in  the  hanking  Imsiness  in  all  its 
departments,  owing  to  the  great  development  of  this  coun- 
try in  industrial  and  commercial  lines." 

Confectionery  Mandfactitre 

This  study  of  the  industry  deals  with  the  manufacture  of 
confectionery  under  modern  conditions  in  large  estahlish- 
ments  which  employ  from  one  hundred  to  one  thousand 
people.  The  facts  and  conditions  presented  are  in  the  main 
such  as  prevail  in  the  general  industry  in  New  England. 

The  health  conditions  of  candy-making  are  favorable  in 
the  large  establishments.  In  the  smaller  and  older  ones  un- 
favorable conditions  prevail.  Some  rooms  in  which  candies 
are  cooled  are  kept  regidarly  below  normal  temperature, 
while  others,  in  which  mixing  takes  place,  are  above  normal 
temperature.  There  is  some  danger  from  machinery,  and 
discomfort,  if  not  danger,  from  steam  and  heat. 

In  this  industry,  in  various  factories,  there  are  employed 
from  three  to  six  times  as  many  girls  as  boys.  The  girls  jxt- 
form  hand  processes  in  the  making  of  candies,  and  do  the 
work  of  boxing  and  labeling.  The  proportion  of  boys  being 
relatively  so  small,  there  is  greater  opportunity  for  them  to 
rise  to  the  responsible  positions. 

The  big  factories  employ  many  boys,  because  there  is  so 
much  work  that  they  can  do,  and  because  men  generally  are 
unwilling  to  work  at  the  wages  paid  in  this  occupation.  In 
the  factories  investigated,  one  half  of  the  male  employees 
were  found  to  be  under  twenty-one  years  of  age. 

Pay  at  the  beginning  varies  from  $3  to  $6,  according  to  the 
age  of  the  boy  and  the  i)articular  work  done.  Boys  act  as 
helpers  and  assistants,  shippers,  mixers,  and  boilers;  the 
more  difficult  processes  are  performed  by  men.  Pay  in  the 
positions  enumerated  varies  from  $3,  the  lowest  sura  paid  at 
tlie  beginning,  to  $12.  The  average  increase  ]>er  week  each 
year  is  $1.25.  Young  men  of  eighteen  or  twenty  years  who 
remain  permanentlv  in  the  occupation  earn  from  $12  to  $15 
a  week.  \s  foreman  of  a  room,  a  man  earns  $18  or  $20  a  week. 


72    YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

In  the  mixing  processes  and  the  general  industry  very 
many  ItaHans  are  employed,  because  of  their  quickness  and 
the  adai)tability  of  the  race  to  this  kind  of  work. 

In  some  establishments  a  few  boys  are  regularly  trained 
as  apprentices  to  learn  the  entire  business;  such  become 
foremen,  superintendents,  traveling  salesmen,  and  mana- 
gers. 

Boys  begin  at  the  age  of  fourteen  in  this  industry.  They 
must  be  clean,  bright,  quick,  and  strong.  Most  boys  enter- 
ing live  at  home,  as  is  the  case  in  industries  paying  low  wages 
at  the  beginning.  WTiile  no  special  education  is  necessary, 
one  must  have  the  usual  attendance  at  the  grammar  school, 
or  present  a  certificate  of  literacy.  With  some  firms  a  knowl- 
edge of  chemistry  is  an  advantage  in  the  manufacturing  de- 
partment. 

It  is  an  industry  in  which  the  educational  requirement  is 
small,  and  the  most  important  qualities  desired  are  neatness 
and  quickness. 

Comments  of  the  people  in  the  industry 

"  There  is  a  fair  chance  for  the  advancement  of  a  boy  or 
young  man;  vacancies  are  regularly  filled  by  selecting  from 
employees  who  have  shown  their  industry  and  ability." 

"  From  the  nature  of  the  business  and  the  number  of  facto- 
ries in  and  about  Boston,  the  chance  for  steady  employment 
of  a  fair  per  cent  of  young  men  who  have  learned  the  work 
is  very  good.  One  should  become  acquainted  with  all  de- 
partments, serving  some  time  in  each  if  he  wishes  to  become 
master  of  the  occupation  and  earn  good  pay.  He  should 
work  also  in  several  factories." 

"  It  is  a  good  occupation  for  one  who  masters  it  thoroughly. 
People  outside  have  no  conception  of  the  magnitude  of  the 
candj'  business." 

"  Boys  with  push  and  health  may  become  able  to  earn  a 
good  living;  those  with  fair  education  may  reach  the  higher 
positions.  A  boy  must  have  the  quality  of  perseverance  and 
interest  himself  thoroughly  in  his  work.  There  is  more  de- 
mand than  ever  for  mental  ability,  for  mind  put  into  one's 
work." 


ORGANIZATION  73 

"A  former  hixury  is  becoming  a  necessity  and  the  candy- 
making  business  offers  a  fairly  good  future  for  a  l)oy  or  young 
man." 

THE   LANDSCAPE   ARCHITECT 

Landscape  architecture  deals  with  plans  and  designs  for 
the  laying  out  of  pul)lic  and  private  parks  and  grounds  and 
city  planning.  It  is  allied  to  architecture,  horticulture,  and 
civil  engineering. 

The  health  conditions  of  this  occupation  arc  excellent.  To 
his  indoor  work  the  landscai)e  architect  adds  the  variety  and 
exhilaration  of  working  out  of  doors.  He  has  steadily  before 
him  an  ideal  of  form  and  beauty  in  his  own  undertakings  as 
well  as  continual  contact  with  them  in  the  w^ork  of  other  men. 

Indoor  work,  which  is  mainly  planning,  writing,  and  draft- 
ing, runs  quite  steadily  through  the  year;  outdoor  work  is 
done  mainly  in  the  summer.  Young  men  must  expect  little 
if  any  field  W'Ork  at  the  start. 

To  some  the  only  drawback  in  the  profession  is  that  of 
travel,  a  great  deal  of  which  is  necessary  for  practicing  land- 
scape architects.  On  the  other  hand,  steady  confinement  in- 
doors is  surely  a  disadvantage. 

In  this  industry  there  is  not  such  keen  competition  as  is 
found  in  commercial  lines.  Contracts  calling  for  the  better 
grades  of  work  are  not  awarded  as  the  results  of  solicitation; 
business  comes  to  a  firm  mainly  because  of  its  reputation. 
Both  landscape  architecture  and  civil  engineering,  allied  in- 
dustries, are  steadily  increasing  their  fields  of  activity.  The 
profession  of  landscape  architecture  has  grown  greatly  in  re- 
cent years,  yet  there  are  few  large  firms.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
modern  and  promising  of  occupations. 

While  there  arc  neither  many  nor  large  firms  in  the  coun- 
try, in  the  vaults  of  one  firm  investigated  lie  copies  of  twenty 
thousand  drawings  for  work  actually  done. 

Success  in  landscaj)c  architecture  depends  on  the  individ- 
ual or  firm  that  can  do  good  work  and  make  it  known  to  the 
public. 

The  landscape  architect  bears  the  same  relation  to  the 
landscape  contractor  as  the  architect  bears  to  the  building 


74    YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

contractor.  The  landscape  contractor  executes  the  plans  and 
designs  prepared  by  the  landscape  architect,  under  the  super- 
vision of  his  rei>resentative  on  the  grounds,  usually  a  civil 
engineer  or  planting  superintendent. 

Older  terms  for  the  profession  are  "landscape  engineer" 
and  "landscape  gardener."  Landscape  gardening  now  has 
to  do  especially  with  the  planting  side  of  the  profession,  and 
boys  prepare  for  it  by  employment  with  a  landscape  archi- 
tect and  by  field  work. 

Wages  for  boys  entering  this  vocation  range  from  $4  to  $6 
and  $7.  Such  wages  usually  cover  the  period  of  learning  the 
occupation.  A  young  man  who  has  taken  a  school  course  in 
the  profession  may  enter  at  $10  or  more.  While  learning, 
a  draftsman  receives  about  the  same  pay  as  in  architectural 
offices,  from  $9  to  $12  a  week,  and  a  planting  department 
clerk  $12  per  week;  an  assistant  in  the  field  from  $8  to  $10, 
and  a  sujierintendent  of  outdoor  work  $15. 

Beyond  those  positions  when  young  men  have  served  a 
period  of  learning  of  four  or  five  years,  pay  increases  steadily, 
quite  equaling  that  received  in  building  architecture,  and 
averaging  from  $1000  to  $1800  per  year.  As  in  all  lines  of 
business,  advancement  and  success  depend  upon  personal 
ability,  thoroughness  of  training,  and  business  conditions. 

Pay  in  the  profession,  while  generally  stated  by  employer 
and  employee  in  the  figures  given  above,  is  usually  computed 
by  the  hour,  especially  for  indoor  work. 

The  usual  age  for  entering  is  sixteen  years;  a  boy  younger 
than  this  woidd  have  no  opportunity  except  as  office  boy. 
One  must  expect  to  give  the  years  between  sixteen  and 
twenty  to  learning  the  profession,  earning  only  enough  for 
living  expenses.  Most  boys  found  in  such  an  occupation  live 
at  home. 

One  should  have  ability  in  drawing,  taste  in  design,  an 
accurate  mind,  good  sense,  and  good  eyesight.  A  boy  should 
be  strong,  of  good  habits,  and  of  normal  physique. 

A  high-school  education  is  the  least  requirement.  Most 
boys  entering  landscape  architecture  in  Boston  and  vicinity 
come  from  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School,  the  Institute  of 
Technology,  Harvard  University',  Bussey  Institute,  and  the 


ORGANIZATION  75 

Worcester  Polytechnic  Institute.  One  must  be  well  trainefl 
in  nuithenuities,  surveyinf^,  and  drafliiif;.  A  kncjwlcdfj;^  of 
jjiants  is  an  advantage  in  all  cases,  and  with  some  firms  an 
essential. 

Many  students  use  their  school  or  college  vacation  for 
studying  the  ])r()fessi()n  with  a  landscape  architect,  thus  get- 
ting practical  field  work  to  supplement  their  school  courses. 

Comments  of  people  in  the  industry 

"  It  is  a  profession  demanding  hard  work  with  long  hours 
and  much  i)ainslaking  service  for  moderate  financial  returns. 
Most  who  go  into  it  do  so  for  love  of  the  occupation." 

"The  work  is  in  part  of  an  advisory  nature,  necessitating 
investigation,  which  is  the  opjjortunity  of  young  men.  They 
draw  up  plans  and  direct  the  execution  of  them  by  con- 
tractors." 

"Teach  a  boy  drawing,  no  matter  what  he  can  do  or  what 
occupation  he  may  enter.  It  trains  the  mind  and  hand  and 
is  of  hell)  always." 

"Conditions  have  changed  greatly  in  recent  years.  The 
Metropolitan  Commissions  pay  a  higticr  price  for  a  shorter 
season  and  sometimes  draw  young  men  away  from  archi- 
tt>cts'  offices." 

"  Better  be  a  first-rate  grocer  than  a  second-rate  landscape 
architect.  One  must  think  carefully  before  entering  this  pro- 
fession, so  that  he  may  not  put  in  three  or  four  years  and  find 
himself  not  fitted  for  it." 

"This  occupation  opens  the  door  to  a  congenial  work  and 
gives  one  broad  views  and  interests  in  life." 

Outline  of  the  Vocation  Bureau's  study  of  the 
department  store 

The  Department  Store 

1.  Its  nature. 

2.  From  the  public  point  of  view. 

3.  The  rise  of  the  department  store. 

4.  Competition. 
.'5.   Futun>. 

(5.  Method  of  treatment. 


76    YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

7.  Chart  of  department-store  organization. 

8.  Four  major  divisions. 

9.  Departments  of  merchandise. 

10.  The  general  manager. 

11.  The  board  of  managers. 

Merchandising  or  Buying: 

1.  The  receiving-room. 

Positions. 

2.  The  marking-room. 

Positions. 

3.  The  stockroom. 

Positions. 

4.  The  division  of  buying: 

Positions. 

The  buyer. 

The  assistant  buyer. 

The  merchandise  manager. 

Assistant  merchandise  manager. 

Diagram  of  the  merchandise  department. 

The  lioy  in  the  merchandise  department. 

Age. 

Positions. 

Pay. 

Advancement. 

Superintending  and  Selling: 

A.  Divisions  and  positions  in  this  double  department: 

1.  Employment  office. 

2.  Floor  superintending. 

3.  Selling. 

4.  The  educational  department. 

5.  The  division  of  expense. 

G.  The  division  of  supply  and  construction. 

7.  The  mail  order  department. 

8.  The  delivery  system. 

B.  The  more  important  positions  and  features  of  superin- 

tending and  selling: 

1.  The  store  manager. 

2.  Diagram  of  store  management. 


ORGANIZATION  77 

3.  The  store  superintendent. 

4.  The  lloor  manager. 

5.  KeiiuiivnienLs  lor  sueeesslul  salesmanship. 

6.  Diagram  of  salesmanship  requirements. 

7.  The  boy  in  the  selling  department. 

Age. 

Positions. 
Pay. 
Advancement. 

8.  The  basis  of  i)ay  in  selling. 

The  Office  Department: 

1.  Its  nature. 

2.  Sini])le  office  divisions. 

3.  Divisions  in  office  work  in  the  highly  organized  store. 

(1)  Credit  and  collection  department. 

(2)  Charge  account  bookkeeping. 

(3)  The  cashier's  ofHce  or  accounting-room. 
(-1)  The  C.O.D.  division. 

(5)  The  auditing  department. 

(0)  The  purchase  records  department. 

(7)  The  ])ayment  department. 

(8)  The  slock  record  department. 

(9)  The  statistical  department. 

4.  Diagram  of  the  office  dei)artment. 

5.  Positions  in  the  office  department  in  the  highly  organ- 

ized store. 
G.  The  bookkeeper. 

7.  An  actual  case  of  advancement. 

8.  The  boy  in  the  office  department. 

Age. 

Positions. 
Pay. 
Ad\»ancement. 

The  Adveutising  Department: 

1.  Its  nature. 

2.  The  modern  trend. 

3.  Divisions  in  store  advertising. 


78     YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

4.  Positions. 

5.  Diagram  of  the  advertising  department, 
G.  The  advertising  manager. 

7.  Important  assistant  position. 

8.  The  boy  in  the  advertising  department. 

Age. 

Positions. 
Pay. 
Advancement. 

9.  Work  producing  advertising  men. 

Conditions  of  Service: 

1.  Hours  of  employment. 

2.  Seasonal  increase  in  trade. 

3.  Diagram  of  seasonal  changes. 

4.  Seasonal  increase  and  decrease  in  the  number  of  em- 

ployees. 

5.  Vacation. 

6.  Physical  conditions. 

7.  Influences  making  for  fatigue. 

8.  Competition  in  service. 

9.  ^^^lere  the  way  divides. 

Welfare  Work: 

1.  The  nature  of  this  work. 

2.  Three  lines  of  opportunity. 

A.  Educational: 

The  school  of  salesmanship. 

B.  Administrative: 

(1)  Efficiency  bulletins. 

(2)  Merchandise  conferences. 

(3)  Efficiency  records. 

(4)  School  enrollment. 

C.  Social: 

(1)  A  mutual  aid  association. 

(2)  An  insurance  or  mutual  benefit  association. 

(3)  A  savings  deposit  system. 

(4)  A  medical  department. 

(5)  The  lecture  committee. 


ORGANIZATION  79 

(0)  The  library  committee. 
(7)  Tlu'  suggestion  committee. 
(S)  The  enlertainment  committee. 
(!))  The  chihlioiise  committee. 

(10)  The  music  committee. 

(11)  A  store  paper. 

(12)  Workers  in  this  division. 

(13)  A  sample  daily  chih  report. 

The  Employee,  Pay,  and  Promotion: 

1.  Suggestions  from  an  employer  to  boys  wlio  may  wish 

to  enter  this  occupation. 
Personal  appearance. 
Past  record. 
Courtesy. 
Perseverance. 
Don't  be  overlooked. 

2.  Some  qualities  rcciuircd. 

3.  Educational  training  rctjuircd,  or  of  value. 

4.  Two  nuiin  lines  of  progress,  quoted  from  a  department 

store  paper. 

5.  Pay. 

G.  Promotion. 

7.  Advice  from  a  store  manager. 

8.  Actual  cases  of  advancement. 

9.  Quotation  from  a  government  investigation. 

Supplementary  Material: 

1.  Summary  of  positions: 

Members  of  the  firm  or  corporation,  or  high  officials. 

The  merchandise  department. 

Superintending  and  selling. 

The  office  department. 

The  advertising  department. 

2.  Positions  not  distinctive  to  the  department  store. 

The  furrier. 
The  store  detective. 
Additional  activities. 
Heads  of  factories. 


80 


YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 


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82  YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCxVTION 

3.  Bibliography. 

4.  A  list  of  periodicals: 

A.  Devoted  mainly  to  merchandising. 

B.  Devoted  mainly  to  advertising  and  selling. 

C.  Devoted  mainly  to  office  work. 

D.  Magazine  articles. 

5.  Institutions  giving   advanced   courses  for  mercantile 

pursuits. 

Diagram  of  salesmanship  requirements 
Efficient  Salesmanship 


Good 

Full 

Thorough 

Keen  sense 

Genuine 

taste 

compliance 

knowledge 

of  respon- 

desire to 

in  dress 

with  the 

of 

sibility 

satisfy 

and 

store 

merchan- 

to the  store 

the 

manners 

system 

dise 

for  results 

customer 

The  hoy  in  the  selling  department 

A  boy  usually  enters  this  department  between  the  ages  of 
fourteen  and  eighteen,  at  pay  ranging  from  $3  to  $1.50  a 
week,  and  with  a  maximum  of  $5  in  simple  duties  before  pro- 
motion. He  will  first  act  as  floor  boy  or  stock  boy.  After  one 
or  two  years  he  may  be  promoted  to  be  inspector,  with  a  max- 
imum of  $6  a  week.  After  several  years  he  may  become  a 
salesman,  with  pay  ranging  from  $10  to  $20,  except  in  the 
rare  cases  of  great  ability  in  certain  lines  of  selling.  A  general 
progress  in  selling  is,  first,  on  cotton  goods,  then  woolen  goods, 
silks,  linens,  housekeeping  goods,  furniture,  and  draperies. 
This  progress  from  one  class  of  goods  to  another  is  not  at  all 
fixed,  and  salespeople  are  transferred  according  to  the  chang- 
ing demands  of  departments.  The  pay  of  the  salesman  in  the 
dry-goods  store  is  on  the  average  a  little  higher  than  found 
in  the  general  department  store.  The  salesman  may  become 
floor  superintendent,  with  pay  ranging  from  $20  to  $30  a 
week.  From  his  knowledge  of  stock  he  may  pass  into  the 
merchandise  department  as  assistant  buyer,  with  possible  ad- 
vance to  buyer  or  merchandise  manager. 


ORGANIZATION  83 

The  basis  of  pay  in  selling 

^^^lilc  it  may  be  said  that  pay  follows  the  law  of  supply 
and  demand  in  the  department-store  field,  the  regular  wage 
of  employees  is  based  upon  what  they  are  worth  in  the  view 
of  the  store  management.  In  the  selling  department  of  some 
stores  a  eertain  amount  of  sales  constitutes  a  "quota"  which 
varies  according  to  the  selling  sections.  The  sales  made  by 
any  one  person  are  expected  to  reach  this  quota,  to  warrant 
a  fixed  standard  of  pay.  Often  the  sales-person  receives  a 
percentage  of  the  excess  above  the  cjuota  of  his  section.  Su])- 
pose  one's  sales  to  total  above  $150  a  week,  the  selling  clerk 
may  receive  three  i)er  cent  of  the  excess.  Again,  in  some  stores 
all  selling  clerks  receive  a  percentage,  as  one  half  of  one  per 
cent,  on  all  sales  made  during  the  holiday  season. 

Before  long  an  awakened  interest  in  vital  vocational 
information  may  yet  regard  such  publications  as  de- 
serving of  a  place  in  the  school  and  college  curriculum. 
Until  the  educational  authorities  take  up  this  task, 
however,  it  will  remain  the  privilege  of  far-sighted 
philanthropy  and  private  enterprise  to  make  available 
such  i)ractical  knowledge  of  the  occupations. 

The  duties  of  the  counselor  outlined  in  this  chapter 
must  impress  one  as  sufficient  to  absorb  the  working 
hours  of  any  individual.  One  of  the  very  first  provi- 
sions must  be  for  the  training  of  assistants  in  research 
and  advising.  These  may  be  paid  or  volunteer  workers. 
The  experiences  gained  in  a  vocation  bureau  are  so 
valuable  that  persons  of  superior  qualifications  may  be 
interested  to  enlist  in  such  tangible  social  service. 

Eventually  the  fruits  of  private  initiative  in  voca- 
tional guidance  nmst  lead  to  the  establishing  of  school 


84    YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

DIAGRAM  OF  STORE  MANAGEMENT 


Store  Manager 

Employ- 
ment 

Protec 
tion 

Educa- 
tion 

Expense 

System 

Buildings 

and 
Supplies 

Mdse. 
Alterations 

Selling 

Organization 

Supt. 

of  Selling 

Deliv- 
ery 

Mark- 
ing 

Mail 
Orders 

Floor  Superintendents 
Floor  Clerks 

Sales  People 
Floor  Boys 

Selling  Departments  or  Section 

From  a  few  to  several  hundred 

selling  sections  in  department 

stores. 

s 

ORGANIZATION  85 

DIAGRAM  OF  THE  MERCHANDISE  DEPARTMENT 


M  i;  Ri  •  1 1  AN  1 1 1 SK  Ma  n  ag  kr 


Assistant  Merchandise  Manager 


Stocks  of  Goods 


Duying 
OrKanization 


Resources 


rroltts 


Euycrs 
Assistant  Buyers 


Heads  of  Stock 
Stock  Boys 


Stock  Departments 

From  a  few  to  several  hundred 

stock  divisions  in  department 

stores. 


86 


YOUTH,   SCHOOL,   AND  VOCATION 


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ORGANIZATION  87 

and  public  vocation  bureaus  and  to  courses  of  prepara- 
tion for  this  specialized  service  in  normal  and  i)rofes- 
sional  schools.  Such  courses  are  already  given  in  sev- 
eral leading  universities.  Here  is  the  outline  of  the 
Boston  University  course:  — 

Course  in  Vocational  Guidance 
Objects: 

(a)  To  provide  instruction  and  practical  training  in  the 
dulics  of  vocational  counselors  in  schools,  philan- 
thro])ic  agencies,  and  business  establishments. 

(b)  To  afford  opportunity  for  the  study,  under  direction, 
of  vocational  problems  in  education  and  educational 
problems  in  employment. 

(c)  To  open  the  way  for  contributions,  based  on  rearling, 
research,  and  service,  toward  more  socially  effective 
material  and  processes  in  education  and  employment. 

(d)  To  enable  school  departments  to  undertake  tentative 
experiments  in  vocational  guidance. 

Methods  —  Topics: 

Lectures  —  conferences  —  reading  —  research  —  field 

work  —  reports. 
I.  Vocational  guidance  as  a  modern  social  problem. 
(a)  The  need  for  vocational  guidance, 
(t)  Agencies  for  vocational  guidance, 
(c)  The  chief  problems  of  vocational  guidance, 
(rf)  Terminology. 
11.  Elements  in  the  choice  of  a  vocation.   Foundations  in 
vocational  efficiency, 
(a)  General  survey. 
(6)  Educational  influences. 

(c)  Social  influences. 

(d)  Economic  influences. 

III.  Factors  in  vocational  guidance, 
(a)  General  survey. 
(6)  The  occupations. 


I" 
88    YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

(1)  The  study  of  occupations  for  vocational  guid- 
ance purposes. 

(2)  Scientific  management  and  scientific  placement. 

(3)  Hiring,  promotion,  and  discharge. 

(c)  The  individual. 

(d)  Agencies  for  employment. 

(1)  The  labor  exchanges. 

(2)  Juvenile  employment  and  after-care  committees. 

(3)  Placement  agencies. 

(c)  Educational  readjustments. 
(/)  Cooperative  effort. 

IV.  The  practice  of  vocational  guidance. 

(a)  In  schools. 

(b)  In  vocation  bureaus  and  other  agencies :  in  industry. 

(1)  The  duties  and  equipment  of  a  vocational  coun- 
selor. 

(2)  The  technique  of  vocational  guidance. 

(3)  Problems:  case  work. 

V.  Summary  and  cautions  —  Review  and  literature. 
VT.  Methods  of  organization. 

Related  practical  work  (optional) : 

Part  I.      Study  of  vocational  agencies  by  prearranged  visits. 

Part  II.  Assignment  to  an  elementary,  high,  or  vocational 
school,  in  cooperation  with  the  school  counselor. 

Part  III.  Assignment  to  a  factory  or  mercantile  establish- 
ment in  cooperation  with  employment  manager, 
and  educational  or  welfare  manager. 

A  question  which  constantly  arises  in  vocation  bu- 
reau work  is  its  relation  to  employment  and  to  employ- 
ment agencies.  Our  discussion  thus  far  should  have 
made  clear  the  fundamental  aims  of  a  vocation  bureau. 
An  office  for  individual  counseling  and  for  studying 
the  problems  of  social  and  educational  readjustment 
will  need  very  large  resources  to  superadd  an  employ- 


ORGANIZATION  8!) 

ment  office.  This  latter  is  no  small  business,  and  re- 
quires far  more  investigation  and  study  than  are  or- 
dinarily given.  While  a  vocation  bureau  gladly  finds 
many  incidental  occasions  to  suggest  openings  for  its 
applicants,  it  will  fail  of  its  purpose  if  its  larger,  con- 
structive functions  become  sidetracked.  A  specially 
organized  department,  such  as  is  discussed  in  a  later 
chapter,  is  necessary  for  considerable  employment 
work,  but  there  can  be  and  should  be  the  closest  co- 
operation between  a  vocation  bureau  and  employment 
service  of  any  kind.  Employment  managers  of  large 
stores  and  factories  should  be  kept  in  touch  with  the 
vocation  bureau,  not  only  for  the  benefit  of  those  who, 
under  proper  conditions,  may  be  referred  to  them  for 
work,  but  chiefly  because  the  adoption  of  vocation 
bureau  methods  and  ideals  in  industry  may  ultimately 
become  such  bureau's  largest  contribution  to  social 
welfare. 

The  progress  of  vocational  guidance  cannot  be  ex- 
pected to  go  on  free  of  errors  and  mishap.  Differences 
of  opinion  as  to  what  such  work  should  be,  as  to  what 
are  its  proper  aims  and  standards  and  how  to  carry 
them  out,  must  necessarily  give  varied  phases  to  the 
movement.  Local  ajiplication  of  the  bureau  idea  will 
differ  in  diiferent  localities,  and,  doubtless,  there  will 
be  much  to  learn  and  much  to  undo. 

Not  found  wanting  will  be  the  ex])loiter  and  the 
charlatan,  advertising  vocational  guidance  as  the  pat- 
ent key  to  success.    Every  conununity  will  have  to 


90    YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

be  on  guard  against  snares  of  this  sort;  no  idea  more 
easily  lends  itself  to  harmful  exploitation. 

At  what  age  shall  vocational  suggestion  and  guid- 
ance begin  in  the  school?  Professor  Paul  H.  Hanus, 
who  was  chairman  of  the  Massachusetts  Commission 
on  Industrial  Education,  has  with  reference  to  voca- 
tional training  answered  the  question  also  for  voca- 
tional guidance.  The  years  up  to  fourteen,  he  main- 
tains, should  be  enriched  with  all  that  a  broad  and 
liberal  curriculum  can  give.  From  fourteen  to  sixteen 
years,  differentiation,  not  specialization,  in  school 
work  may  take  place  along  the  lines  of  the  probable 
occupations  of  the  boys  who  are  not  going  to  a  classi- 
cal high  school  or  college,  and  with  regard  to  the  pre- 
dominant industries  of  the  locality.  This  in  order  to 
develop  general  vocational  intelligence.  Prior  to  the 
fourteenth  year,  however,  it  is  desirable  that  school 
work  include  vocational  enlightenment;  for  example, 
talks  on  familiar  trades  and  professions,  excursions  by 
classes  or  groups  of  children  to  shops,  stores,  offices, 
and  vocational  schools,  and  manual  training. 

Applying  these  suggestions  to  guidance  in  the  ele- 
mentary schools,  there  is  first  a  fundamental  need  of 
stimulating  the  ideal  of  vocational  purpose.  School 
work  inspired  by  the  "life-career  motive"  is  the  ideal 
of  all  progressive  educators.  As  thousands  of  children 
will  for  some  time,  unfortunately,  go  to  work  from  the 
grammar  school,  the  vocational  director  or  the  school 
counselor,  where  they  are  appointed  (as  in  Boston), 


ORGANIZATION  01 

should  get  into  touch  with  the  boys  and  girls  and  their 
parents  in  order  to  work  out  gradually  the  question  of 
the  least  objectionable  occupation,  if,  indeed,  there 
be  any  choice.  The  most  important  part  of  this 
work,  however,  will  be  in  the  endeavor  to  find  a  way 
to  continue  the  aj)propriate  schooling  of  these  boys 
and  girls.  In  time  legislation  rather  than  advice  will 
have  to  be  relied  on  to  protect  the  futures  of  these 
children. 

The  vocational  decision,  when  made,  should  repre- 
sent, of  course,  the  conclusion  reached  by  the  boy  or 
girl,  young  man  or  woman,  or  by  any  one  who  may  be 
receiving  advice.  Decision  is  not  the  business  of  the 
counselor,  but  that  of  the  applicant.  The  counselor  is 
there  for  suggestion,  inspiration,  and  cooperation. 
The  over-zealous  school  counselor  who  "prescribes" 
vocations  is  quite  likely  to  commit  the  error  of  forcing 
decisions  on  children  prematurely,  and  perhaps  driv- 
ing them  to  work. 

Without  a  genuine  personal  touch,  then,  the  coun- 
selor's service  to  the  applicant  cannot  be  very  valu- 
able. Human  beings,  not  "cases,"  are  before  him,  and 
therefore  a  mechanical  treatment  of  bureau  j^rob- 
lems  is  intolerable.  If  the  possession  of  accurate  voca- 
tional information  is  desirable,  no  less  so  is  the  giving 
it  without  bias.  A  counselor  prejudiced  in  favor  of  a 
particular  line  of  pursuits,  be  they  industrial,  academic, 
or  what  not,  is  vitiating  his  usefulness.  No  vocation 
bureau  can  fuUill  its  mission  which  leans  toward  one  or 


92    YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

another  of  the  occupations.  Its  business  is  to  deal  with 
the  facts,  impartially  and  responsibly. 

An  even  more  serious  indictment  would  be  the  dis- 
pensing with  the  program  of  analytical  and  educational 
effort  on  the  part  of  the  applicant,  and  converting  the 
bureau  into  an  office  for  a  short  cut  to  jobs.  Some  em- 
ployers will  be  found  ready  to  take  advantage  of  any 
laxity  in  the  bureau's  standards.  When  a  vocation 
bureau  degenerates  into  an  agency  merely  for  supply- 
ing young  people  to  employers,  the  time  has  come  to 
close  it  up.  As  has  been  already  suggested,  the  placing 
of  young  people  in  employment  calls  for  most  careful 
investigation  and  organization.  Without  a  system  of 
supervision,  without  a  plan  for  the  definite  training  of 
every  child  it  helps  send  into  uninstructive  employ- 
ment, and  without  a  definite  educational  agreement 
with  every  employer  who  is  thus  served,  the  vocation 
bureau  with  other  than  incidental  employment  fea- 
tures must  only  intensify  existing  evil  conditions  of 
juvenile  labor. 

Every  adviser  has  become  familiar  with  the  types 
who  seek  occult  assistance.  They  are  morbidly  intro- 
spective. The  relation  to  their  fellows  and  to  their 
work  is  not  normal.  The  personal  data  sheets  or 
printed  list  of  personal  questions,  such  as  the  coun- 
selor may  prepare  for  the  applicant,  cannot  be  used 
mechanically,  and  with  reference  to  the  type  of  ap- 
plicant here  in  question  they  will  usually  prove  worth- 
less. Self -analysis  is  like  a  drug  habit  with  these  people 


ORGANIZATION  93 

and  before  vocational  help  of  any  value  can  be  given, 
the  counselor  will  probably  find  it  necessary  to  deal 
frankly  with  their  mental  and  emotional  make-up. 
The  vocation  bureau  is  not  equipped  for  service  in  the 
field  of  abnormal  psychology.  Its  rigorous  common- 
sense  methods  should  be  sufficient  to  deter  the  coming 
of  those  who  need  other  than  the  bureau's  helj).  The 
bureau  must  ever  be  on  guard  against  dabbling  in  sub- 
jects foreign  to  its  powers. 

In  dealing  with  the  life-work  i)roblems  of  young 
people  sane  conservatism  must  prevail,  and  a  sharp 
sense  of  responsibility  control  the  work  of  the  voca- 
tional director.  The  methods  he  uses  and  the  sugges- 
tions he  makes  are  all  fraught  with  serious  conse- 
quences. No  other  work  calls  more  insistently  for 
sense,  judgment,  and  straight  thinking.  Misguidance 
is  a  constant  possi})ility  in  bureau  work.  With  a  grow- 
ing number  of  counselors  in  the  field,  and  with  the  ex- 
tension of  this  service  through  both  public  and  private 
endeavor  everywhere,  the  dangers  multiply.  Good  in- 
tentions cannot  excuse  the  lack  of  care  and  adecjuate 
equipment  on  the  part  of  the  advisers. 

The  ap])licant  himself  is  a  factor  in  the  bureau's 
liability  to  disservice.  To  answer  a  list  of  personal 
questions,  either  orally  or  in  writing,  honestly  and 
satisfactorily,  is  a  difficult  process.  Not  many  people 
can  face  themselves  objectively.  Inability  as  well  as 
unwillingness  to  do  so  may  be  the  reason.  To  know 
one's  self  after  the  manner  presupposed    by  many 


94  YOUTH,   SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

so-called  self-analysis  charts  is  a  sign  of  genius  and  ca- 
pacity not  in  need  of  a  counselor's  help.  Exploring  the 
vocational  possibilities  of  a  troubled  or  discouraged 
applicant  calls  for  a  large  expenditure  of  thought  and 
energy.  No  progress  can  be  made  if  the  applicant  does 
not  meet  the  counselor's  exertions  in  a  cooperative 
spirit.  The  margin  for  error  and  misjudgment  is  large 
at  best,  and  the  applicant  must  attend  faithfully  to  the 
reading,  the  investigating,  and  the  work  required  of 
him. 

There  is  no  royal  road  to  vocational  guidance.  Pre- 
tentious claims  do  not  belong  to  the  legitimate  voca- 
tion bureau.  What  may  be  confidently  expected  during 
the  early  years  of  this  work  is  mitigation  of  the  pre- 
vailing anarchy  during  the  decisive  years  of  school  and 
occupational  changes,  through  energetic  application  of 
science  and  sympathy  to  this  problem.  To  sum  up  the 
principal  dangers  which  the  movement  may  encounter, 
attention  is  again  directed  to  the  danger  of  forcing  de- 
cisions upon  young  children  through  wholesale  coun- 
seling; too  little  personal  relationship;  absence  of  gen- 
uine research  work;  superficial  suggestion;  vocational 
bias;  job-finding  instead  of  constructive  social  service; 
pretentiousness;  and  generally  inferior  equipment  of 
the  executive  and  the  bureau.  Mistakes  are  inevitable 
in  this  endeavor  to  help  the  coming  generation  to  find 
itself,  but  a  rigid  standard  of  service  and  of  social  re- 
sponsibility can  alone  insure  against  their  too  frequent 
repetition. 


VOCATIONAL   GUIDANCE   IN   GERMANY 

We  consider  now  some  of  the  ini])ortiint  enteqiriscs 
carried  on  by  ])ublic  and  private  agencies  in  Germany, 
England,  and  Scotland,  for  the  purpose  of  helping  boys 
and  girls  in  their  start  in  life.  These  countries  have 
been  selected  for  special  discussion  because  their  work 
of  vocational  assistance,  some  of  it  old  and  nmch  of  it 
still  in  the  early  exjjerimental  stages,  possesses  pecu- 
liar suggestiveness  for  workers  in  similar  fields  in  the 
United  States.  Conditions  and  even  viewpoints  will 
be  found  so  unlike  our  own,  oftentimes,  that  direct 
adoption  of  the  schemes  described  will  be  obviously 
out  of  the  question.  Genuine  social  service,  as  every  ex- 
perienced worker  knows,  is  never  a  transi)lantation ;  it 
must  grow  out  of  local  insight  and  necessity.  This,  too, 
should  be  pointed  out:  The  countries  mentioned  differ 
not  only  with  respect  to  one  another  in  methods  and 
policies  of  helping  the  children  vocationally,  but  they 
differ,  too,  in  many  details,  within  their  various  sub- 
divisions. Scotland  does  not  follow  England,  nor  does 
England  follow  Germany  in  the  work  of  vocational 
assistance.  The  work  in  Birmingham  is  unlike  that  in 
London,  while  Edinburgh  dillers  from  both.    North 


96  YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

Germany  and  South  Germany  are  widely  apart  in  both 
methods  and  results. 

In  a  survey  of  foreign  experiments,  one  cannot  fail 
to  be  impressed  by  the  elaborateness  of  machinery  de- 
veloped; the  extent  and  effectiveness  of  the  national 
and  local  support  through  legislation  and  money 
grants;  and  also  by  the  extraordinary  development  of 
volunteer  service  on  the  part  of  men  and  women  who 
are  drawn  from  school,  manufacturing,  commercial, 
labor,  civic,  and  social-service  groups. 

Although  German  literature  on  the  subject  of  voca- 
tional counseling  and  the  choice  of  a  life-career  is  con- 
siderable, and  some  of  it  of  a  most  thorough  and  ex- 
cellent character,  there  is  at  the  present  time  not  more 
than  a  beginning  of  distinct  and  organized  activity  in 
this  field.  German  social  enterprise  has  concerned  it- 
self thus  far  largely,  among  other  things,  with  the  im- 
mense task  of  establishing  the  continuation  and  part- 
time  school  system,  which  has  become  a  world  model, 
and  the  system  of  labor  bureaus  which  place  boys  and 
girls  who  seek  work. 

Nevertheless,  the  schools  have  not  been  indifferent 
to  the  career  problems  of  the  children.  Before  the 
school-leaving  period  draws  near,  and  shortly  before 
the  fourteenth  birthday,  teachers  and  others  call  at- 
tention to  the  various  wage-earning  opportunities  open 
to  the  children.  They  describe  the  supplementary  train- 
ing provisions  of  the  municipality  and  the  procedure  in 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  IN  GERMANY     97 

getting  work  through  the  labor  exchange.  In  a  few 
cities  and  towns  municipal  vocational  information 
offices  have  been  started  —  usually  in  connection  with 
some  well-established  agency,  such  as  the  statistical 
bureau  —  for  the  purpose  of  advising  parents,  children, 
and  teachers  as  to  industrial  conditions,  the  state  of 
the  labor  market,  and  the  nature  of  the  demand  for 
workers.  These  "consultation  hours  for  parents,"  so 
called,  are  among  the  most  interesting  and  promising 
activities  in  the  recent  German  movement  for  organ- 
ized vocational  guidance.  A  notable  instance  of  this 
type  of  work  is  to  be  found  in  the  city  of  Halle,  where 
the  director  of  the  Statistical  Bureau,  Dr.  Wolff,  has  for 
several  years  conducted  on  his  own  initiative  a  depart- 
ment for  vocational  counseling.  The  abundant  eco- 
nomic material  of  the  office  is  made  available  to  those 
who  seek  information  as  to  the  nature  of  various  em- 
ployments. Office  hours  are  advertised  when  the  di- 
rector or  an  assistant  will  be  found  on  duty  for  voca- 
tional counseling. 

The  schools,  too,  are  keenly  interested  in  preventing 
the  children  from  becoming  careless  job-seekers,  and 
they  take  a  personal  interest  in  directing  children  to 
the  nearest  labor  exchange  and  to  other  placement 
agencies.  Parents  are  invited  before  the  children  leave 
school  to  attend  informal  conferences,  at  which  a  brief 
talk  is  given  to  point  out  the  mischief  of  drifting  into 
employment  without  forethought  and  i)lan.  Pamphlets 
are  often  distributed  showuig  what  the  various  occu- 


98     YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

pations  are  and  their  educational  requirements;  also  the 
institutions,  public  and  private,  which  give  the  required 
training.  Specific  advice  is  avoided  by  German  teach- 
ers, who  realize  that  giving  occupational  information 
is  the  work  of  a  specialist  and  that  people  unprepared 
for  this  task  should  not  assume  the  serious  responsi- 
bility it  entails.  The  school  authorities,  nevertheless, 
endeavor  to  use  their  influence  in  securing  attendance 
of  the  leaving  children  at  the  Labor  Bureau  until  they 
have  been  placed. 

Once  started  in  employment,  the  boy,  and  in  some 
places  the  girl,  will  be  required  to  attend  the  appro- 
priate continuation  or  part-time  vocational  school  for 
two  or  three  years,  four  or  six  hours  a  week.  H  the  boy 
is  in  mercantile  work,  he  will  go  to  a  conunercial  school, 
and  if  in  industry  he  will  attend  courses  dealing  with 
the  practical  or  related  theoretical  work  of  his  trade. 
For  that  army  of  children  who  are  in  unskilled  callings, 
classes  are  formed  to  give  instruction  in  subjects  com- 
mon to  a  large  group  of  miscellaneous  occupations  and 
helpful  also  in  developing  character  and  citizenship. 

The  question  as  to  what  further  instruction  a  boy  or 
girl  is  to  receive  is  settled  by  the  nature  of  the  employ- 
ment undertaken.  Therefore,  it  is  not  the  choice  of  a 
career  which  confronts  the  average  German  schooll>oy, 
but  the  question  as  to  how  well  he  will  do  the  work  he 
is  almost  destined  for.  To  be  sure,  the  children  have 
some  choice  as  between  entering  the  ranks  of  the  skilled 
or  the  unskilled  pursuits,  the  latter  paying  children. 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  IN  GERMANY     DO 

as  is  everywhere  the  case,  relatively  more  attractive 
wages  than  the  former.  But  for  the  most  [)art  the  so- 
cial and  economic  position  of  the  children  settles  the 
general  class  of  employments  which  they  are  likely  to 
go  into. 

In  this  fact  lies  the  explanation  for  the  absence  thus 
far  in  Germany  of  a  scheme  of  guidance  comprehen- 
sive and  supported  by  law.  Guidance,  it  has  been 
thought,  was  a  somewhat  needless  procedure  in  the 
case  of  young  people  whose  career  was  more  or  less 
a  predetermined  matter.  Recent  events  show  the  dis- 
content of  thinking  Germans  with  such  a  mischievous 
assumption  and  the  situation  which  it  has  created. 
Many  towns  are  distributing  occui)ational  handbooks, 
and  a  large  number  of  social  agencies  are  working  for 
organized  schemes  of  vocational  information  and 
guidance  to  precede  the  employment  stage. 

Certain  far-reaching  changes  in  industrial  condi- 
tions have  brought  about  the  new  demand  for  voca- 
tional guidance.  Germany's  most  successful  part- 
time  vocational  schools  are  to  be  found  where  the 
factory  system  has  not  yet  transformed  the  old-time 
methods  of  production.  In  South  Germany,  where 
shops  employing  from  ten  to  fifty  workers  are  the 
prevalent  type,  apprenticeshi]>  is  still  a  possibility.  In- 
dividual skill  counts  for  much  where  the  worker  is  not 
altogether  a  process  or  an  automatic  worker.  Initia- 
tive and  manual  dexterity  find  scope  in  the  small  sho]), 
where  often  a  variety  of  tiisks  are  to  be  performed  by 


100         YOUTH,   SCHOOL,   AND  VOCATION 

an  individual.  This  is  not  the  case  in  the  factory- 
dotted  areas  of  North  Germany. 

The  part-time  school  as  a  state  enterprise  in  ap- 
prenticeship training  is  only  a  logical  continuation  of 
the  system  which  the  employers  themselves  once 
supported  in  self-interest  and  managed  as  part  of  their 
function. 

But  in  the  rapid  changes,  from  small  to  large  meth- 
ods of  production,  from  a  rural  and  semi-rural  to  an 
urban  and  mol^ile  population,  and  with  increasing 
sub-division  of  labor,  an  apprenticeship  system  cannot 
alone  meet  the  needs  of  thousands  of  young  people 
facing  the  wage-earning  life.  Nor  does  the  apprentice- 
ship system,  even  though  supplemented  by  the  voca- 
tional school,  assure  a  right  start  in  life  for  all  classes 
of  children.  Criticism  has,  therefore,  grown  in  volume, 
and  in  the  public  addresses  of  leading  German  econo- 
mists, educators,  and  social  workers  will  be  found  co- 
gent arguments  for  the  establishment  of  supplement- 
ary guidance  plans  to  help  children  and  parents. 

Despite  the  admirable  placement  and  training  pro- 
visions to  be  found  in  a  number  of  German  States,  the 
fact  remains  that  there  is  an  unregulated  and  menac- 
ing drift  of  young  people  into  trades,  a  drift  which 
causes  oversupply  of  workers  in  some  industries,  while 
in  others  there  is  a  scarcity  of  workers.  The  economic 
results  of  this  chaos  have  been  pointed  out  at  recent 
conventions  of  economists  and  labor  organizations. 
The  probable  breakdown  of  training  provisions,  and 


VOCATIONAL  GUID.VNCE  IN  GERMANY     101 

a  condition  oi"  chronic  unemployment  and  underem- 
ployment for  a  large  percentage  of  the  workers,  are 
the  consequences.  Thinking  Germans  no  longer  rely 
on  the  law  of  supply  and  demand  to  work  magic  in 
correcting  the  maladjustment.  The  tendency  on  the 
part  of  those  leaving  school  to  make  straight  for  the 
immediately  ])rofitable  unskilled  occupations  threat- 
ens the  efficacy  and  appeal  of  the  vocational  school. 
In  the  Trade  and  Labor  Census,  of  1907  there  were 
350,000  young  people  noted  as  employed  in  miscel- 
laneous callings,  aside  from  the  familiar  trades.  Of 
these  not  more  than  about  150,000  had  had  any  vo- 
cational training,  the  rest  being  employed  as  hclj)ers, 
in  no  need  of  specific  efficiency  training.  There  is  no 
reason  to  believe  that  the  number  of  such  neglected 
factors  in  the  working  population  has  diminished. 
On  the  contrary,  all  indications  point  not  only  to  an 
increase  in  their  number,  but  to  the  possibility  of  a 
majority  of  young  workers  finding  themselves  before 
many  years  in  the  ranks  of  the  "blind-alley"  work- 
ers. Neither  woll-dis])osed  individuals  nor  local  com- 
munities are  strong  enough  to  deal  with  a  situation 
whose  roots  are  deep  and  wide.  For  this  reason  a 
number  of  experiments  have  been  undertaken  for  the 
purpose  of  trying  out  what  it  is  hoped  may  lead  to 
a  state-wide  or  federal  plan  for  vocational  guidance. 
Of  late  years,  in  Munich  and  in  Pforzheim,  parents, 
teachers,  physicians,  and  officers  of  the  Labor  IJurcuu 
and  labor  unions  have  cooperated  in  conferences  for 


102         YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

the  purpose  of  emphasizing  the  thoughtful  selection  of 
life-work  and  of  calling  attention  to  less  familiar  and  to 
overcrowded  trades.  Several  labor  organizations,  too, 
have  attempted  a  counseling  service,  but  with  little 
success,  owing  to  their  inability  to  give  this  work  the 
time  and  resources  which  it  requires.  In  1908  the 
Halle  Bureau  of  Statistics,  already  mentioned,  opened 
its  office  evenings  to  information  seekers.  The  schools 
were  notified  of  the  Bureau's  readiness  to  give  infor- 
mation as  to  wages,  conditions,  and  apprenticeship 
requirements  of  the  various  industries  in  the  city.  A 
secretary  now  keeps  records  of  the  advice  given  and 
endeavors  to  follow  the  progress  of  the  children  who 
have  been  counseled.  The  local  Labor  Bureau,  of 
course,  mediates  in  placing  the  children.  The  organ- 
izer of  this  experiment.  Dr.  Wolff,  believes  that  the 
child's  natural  counselors,  the  parents,  are  often  too 
busy  and  too  little  informed  as  to  the  nature  of  the  va- 
rious employments  to  be  effective  advisers.  Parents' 
consultation  hours  were  therefore  established  in  the 
director's  office  to  enable  fathers  and  mothers  to  dis- 
cuss with  experts  the  vocational  problems  of  their 
children.  The  consultation  office  has  been  open  also 
to  adults  who  sought  information  about  various  trades 
and  conditions.  The  work  has  developed  beyond  the 
stage  of  mere  information-giving,  definite  suggestions 
being  now  given  to  young  applicants,  based  on  the 
Bureau's  study  of  their  educational  equipment,  health, 
personal  inclinations,  and  the  financial  condition  of  the 


VOCATIONAL  OTTIBANCE  IN  GERMANY     103 

family.  When  Uic  decision  is  fin.ally  made  by  the  par- 
ent and  child,  the  help  of  the  Bureau  is  sought  in  se- 
curing an  oj)ening,  and  especially  an  apprenticeshi]> 
opportunity  for  the  boy.  Private  agencies  and  individ- 
uals are  often  enlisted  in  the  search  for  a  promising 
place.  The  Bureau  of  Statistics  endeavors  to  keep  its 
advisory  material  fresh  by  freciuent  study  of  the  labor 
market,  of  demand  and  supi)ly,  and  the  promising 
avenues  of  employment.  A  record  is  kept  of  employers 
who  will  cooperate  in  an  apprenticeship  agreement. 
Various  trades  and  commercial  organizations  have 
been  enlisted  in  assigning  members  to  give  public 
lectures  on  the  various  trades,  businesses,  and  profes- 
sions. In  1908,  the  year  of  opening,  27  applicants  made 
use  of  the  Halle  consultation  hours;  54  in  1909;  79  in 
1910;  and  101  in  1911.  The  range  of  visitors  to  the 
office  has  now  grown  to  include  a  large  number  of  busi- 
ness men,  manufacturers,  teachers,  and  public  officials 
who  desire  help  in  a  large  variety  of  occupational  prob- 
lems. Of  264  individuals  counseled  during  the  first 
three  years  of  the  consultation  hours'  service,  128  had 
had  only  elementary  schooling,  while  the  others  were 
distributed  among  the  higher  schools.  Two  thirds  of 
all  who  api)lied  were  fourteen  years  of  age  or  under. 
Eighty-five  were  started  in  life  under  apprenticeship 
arrangements. 

Ilalle  has  not  neglected  its  girls.  Consultation  hours 
for  girl  apprentices  have  been  started  by  a  body  of 
public-spirited  women,  while  the  task  of  starting  girls 


104         YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

as  domestic  servants  is  looked  after  by  the  House- 
wives' Association  of  the  city,  Halle's  example  has 
been  followed  by  half  a  dozen  other  cities,  the  statistical 
bureaus,  which  in  Germany  represent  a  high  type  of 
efficiency,  usually  acting  as  centers  of  vocational  infor- 
mation for  schools,  parents,  and  children. 

At  the  conventions  held  during  recent  years  by  as- 
sociations of  labor-exchange  officials,  of  economists 
and  social  workers,  notably  those  held  in  Diisseldorf 
in  1910,  and  more  recently  in  Breslau  and  Elberfeld, 
the  papers  which  attracted  particular  notice  were  those 
advocating  municipal  vocation  bureaus. 

This  proposal  has  borne  fruit,  for  we  find  similar 
recommendations  appearing  in  the  political  platforms 
of  various  parties,  especially  in  relation  to  social  poli- 
cies for  cities  and  towns.  In  August,  1913,  Diisseldorf 
opened  a  guidance  office  for  the  city  and  surrounding 
districts,  accompanied  by  placement  bureaus  for  ap- 
prentices. Frankfort  is  carrying  on  a  series  of  motion- 
picture  lectures  showing  the  various  employments, 
the  object  being  to  interest  boys  and  girls  in  thinking 
about  their  future  vocations.  The  Berlin  Labor  Bureau 
Central  Office  conducts  public  motion-picture  shows 
with  a  like  purpose,  the  first  of  these  having  been  given 
in  May,  1913.  In  1912  the  Leipzig  Manufacturers'  As- 
sociation started  a  guidance  bureau  for  young  people. 
In  this  enterprise  they  have  not  had  the  support  of  the 
workingmen,  for  one  reads  in  their  organ,  the  Leipzig 
Labor  Daily  {Leipziger  V olkszeitung)  of  May  14  and  15 : 


VOCATIONAL  GTTTDANCE  IN  GERMANY     \or> 

"The  vocational-guidance  bureau  ought  not  to  be  in 
the  hands  of  an  employers'  organization  until  we  se- 
cure a  very  effective  law  for  the  protection  of  api)rcn- 
ticcs  against  overwork  and  undcq)ay";  and  "Such 
bureau  should  be  a  state  or  municipal  institution." 

There  are  other  advisory  offices  throughout  Ger- 
many, too  numerous,  indeed,  to  record  in  this  brief 
survey  of  significant  beginnings  in  organized  vocational 
guidance  ins])ired  by  social  service  aims.  Some  of  these 
offices  are  supported  by  philanthropic  societies,  some 
are  connected  with  established  charities,  some  are  em- 
ployers' devices  to  get  more  suitable  employees,  and 
others  are  slight  experiments  looking  to  a  public  un- 
dertaking of  the  work. 

The  vocational  guidance  service  of  some  of  the  Ger- 
man labor  bureaus  has  been  so  excellent  that  a  brief  ac- 
count of  their  work  will  be  of  interest.  In  Strassburg, 
since  1902,  the  Municijjal  Labor  Bureau  has  endeav- 
ored, with  the  official  support  and  direction  of  labor 
organizations  and  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  to  start 
boys  in  life  as  well  as  possible.  The  control  committee 
is  made  up  of  employers  and  employees  from  various 
occupations  of  the  district.  This  committee  seeks  in- 
formation as  to  suitability  of  the  employers  who  an- 
nounce the  vacancies.  All  boys  who  are  about  to  leave 
school,  whether  with  work  in  ]>rospect  or  not,  are 
obliged  to  report  themselves  with  their  i)arents  to  the 
Labor  IJureau,  the  school  officials  taking  pains  to  se- 
cure this  attendance.    The  teacher  distrilnites  cards 


106         YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

to  be  filled  in  by  all  the  boys  and  girls  leaving  the  ele- 
mentary schools,  and  their  parents  are  summoned  for 
an  evening  conference  with  the  school  authorities,  who 
explain  the  purpose  of  the  cards.  Within  a  few  days 
the  cards  must  be  taken  to  the  Labor  Bureau.  Each 
boy  at  leaving  time  is  examined  by  the  health  officer  as 
to  his  physical  condition,  and  notes  are  entered  upon 
the  boy's  card.  This  card  is  examined  by  the  Labor- 
Bureau  officials,  as  well  as  by  employers'  committees. 
All  boys  and  girls  report  back  regularly  with  their  con- 
trol cards  until  they  have  been  placed  as  suitably  as 
circumstances  permit.  To  help  in  cases  T»'here  poverty 
would  force  an  unwise  choice  of  employment,  scholar- 
ship grants,  or  subsidies,  have  been  started  with  gov- 
ernment aid,  and  there  are  other  instances  of  special 
financial  assistance  to  start  the  boy  properly. 

The  Munich  Labor  Bureau,  like  that  of  Strassburg, 
just  described,  works  in  intelligent  cooperation  with 
the  School  Department.  The  boys  go  out  of  school 
to  a  large  variety  of  apprenticeship  openings,  such 
as  mechanics,  bakers,  locksmiths,  woodworkers,  etc. 
They  are  carefully  examined  medically.  Every  effort 
is  made  to  prevent  waste  and  drifting  in  undertaking 
employment.  The  German  people  have  a  horror  of 
waste  in  any  form,  particularly  the  waste  due  to  inter- 
mittent employment.  Everywhere  vocational  advice 
stresses  the  importance  of  preparation  for  permanent 
work. 

Germany,  like  England  and  our  own  country,  is  not 


VOCATIONAL  GTTIDANCE  IN   GERMANY     IDT 

without  its  grievous  problems  of  child  labor.  Not  all 
the  children  can  avail  themselves  of  the  advice  given; 
and  there  are  instances  enough  of  parents  who  arc 
ignorant  and  irresponsible.  Efforts  toward  better  reg- 
ulation of  juvenile  employment,  the  raising  of  the  com- 
pulsory school  age,  and  the  prohi])ition  of  certain  em- 
ployments to  minors  are  energetically  going  forward. 
Nevertheless,  Germany  has  laid  foundations  of  social 
and  educational  ]M)licy  which  are  of  immense  assist- 
ance in  the  present  efforts  for  vocational  guidance.  It 
is  a  truism  in  German  educational  thought,  that  no  oc- 
cupation, whatever  may  be  its  character  or  problems 
of  organization,  can  be  permitted  to  go  on  indifferent 
to  the  developmental  needs  of  its  young  workers.  Com- 
pulsion has  long  been  looked  upon,  at  least  in  some 
parts  of  Germany,  as  the  foundation  of  success  in  any 
scheme  of  training  young  workers.  This  principle  is  be- 
coming the  universal  practice  in  the  Empire.  Influenced 
by  this,  there  are  advocates  of  a  like  policy  with  re- 
spect to  the  start  in  life  of  the  boys  and  girls;  that  is 
to  say,  while  decision  must  always  necessarily  be  a  free 
act,  and  besides,  the  free  act  of  parent  and  child,  there 
should  be  suitable  provision,  publicly  supported,  for 
the  supplying  of  vocational  information  and  expert 
guidance  to  young  people  who  are  headed  for  employ- 
ment. While  the  industrial  field  is  an  object  of  special 
emphasis  with  the  leaders  in  the  German  movement, 
there  is  no  failure  to  recognize  the  fact  that  such  guid- 
ance is  indispensable  to  all  career  seekers,  whether 


108         YOUTH,   SCHOOL,   AND  VOCATION 

in  the  professions,  commerce,  trades,  or  government 
service. 

When  contrasted  with  the  widespread  organization 
of  counseling  service  in  the  United  Kingdom,  the  fore- 
going account  of  German  beginnings  would  seem  to  in- 
dicate a  rather  tardy  recognition  of  the  problems  which 
confront  the  school-children  at  the  transition  stage. 
Such  impression  would  not  do  justice  to  the  facts.  The 
truth  is  that  in  no  other  country  is  there  a  larger  body 
of  intellectual  leaders  who  have  been  thinking  deeply 
on  this  transition  problem.  University  professors,  rec- 
ognized authorities  in  social  and  civic  affairs,  distin- 
guished economists,  party  leaders,  publicists,  and  men 
and  women  at  the  forefront  of  advance  movements  in 
the  Empire  are  among  the  conspicuous  participants  in 
the  beginnings  which  this  chapter  has  only  briefly 
sketched. 


VI 

VOCATIONAL   GUIDANCE   IN   ENGLAND   AND 

SCOTLAND 

Although  various  Scotch  and  English  towns  have 
for  years  been  carrying  on  some  juvenile  advisory  and 
placement  work,  frequently  through  members  of  the 
care  conmiittees,  established  primarily  to  sui)ervisc 
school  feeding,  two  parliamentary  enactments,  one 
known  as  the  Labor  Exchanges  Act,  passed  in  1009,  and 
the  other  as  the  Education  (Choice  of  Employment) 
Act,  passed  in  1910,  may  be  said  to  be  the  mainsprings 
of  the  present  vocational-guidance  activities  in  the 
United  Kingdom.  These  two  acts,  with  res])cct  to 
their  advisory  and  juvenile  employment  provisions, 
have  been  in  process  of  applicatioii  simultaneously. 
Under  their  authority  many  important  exi)erimcnts 
are  under  way.  The  separate  education  act  of  Scotland 
became  effective  in  1908,  with  the  following  provi- 
sions :  — 

It  shall  be  lawful  for  a  school  hoard,  if  they  think  fit,  in  ad- 
dition to  any  powers  already  vested  in  them,  to  incur  exi)end- 
iture  and  to  defray  the  same  out  of  the  scliool  fund,  in  carry- 
ing out  or  in  (H>nil)iniiig  with  one  or  more  seliool  hoards  lo 
carry  out  the  following  objects  (that  is  to  say) :  In  mainlaiti- 
ing  or  combining  with  other  IxKlies  to  maintain  any  agency 
for  collecting  and  distril)uting  information  as  to  emi)loy- 
meuts  open  to  children  upon  leaving  school. 


110         YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

The  Education  (Choice  of  Employment)  Act,  1910, 
quoted  in  part  reads :  — 

An  act  to  enable  certain  local  education  authorities  to  give 
boys  and  girls  information,  advice,  and  assistance  with  re- 
spect to  the  choice  of  employment. 

1. —  (1)  The  powers  conferred  upon  the  councils  of  coun- 
ties and  county  boroughs  as  local  education  authorities  under 
section  two  of  the  Education  Act,  1902  (in  this  act  called  the 
principal  act),  shall  include  a  power  to  make  arrangements, 
subject  to  the  approval  of  the  board  of  education,  for  giving 
boys  and  girls  under  seventeen  years  of  age  assistance  with 
respect  to  the  choice  of  suitable  employment,  by  means  of 
the  collection  and  the  communication  of  information  and 
the  furnishing  of  advice. 

Under  the  Labor  Exchanges  Act  of  1909,  the  Board 
of  Trade,  which  combines  many  of  the  functions  of, 
and  corresponds  to,  our  Departments  of  the  Interior, 
Commerce,  and  Labor,  was  authorized  to  make  its 
own  regulations  for  the  conduct  of  these  exchanges 
and  to  establish  such  juvenile  advisory  committees  as 
it  thought  fit. 

The  joint  memorandum  issued  by  the  Board  of 
Trade  and  Board  of  Education  has  laid  the  foundation 
of  the  present  relationship  between  the  schools  and  the 
juvenile  labor  exchanges.  While  one  cannot  say  how 
long  the  policies  laid  down  in  this  document  will  con- 
tinue in  their  present  form,  there  being  a  determined 
efiort  on  the  part  of  a  number  of  leaders  in  child-wel- 
fare work  to  secure  to  the  school  authorities  the  ex- 
clusive control  of  the  advisory  and  placements  services 
for  those  under  seventeen,  the  probabilities  seem  to  be 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  IN  ENGLAND      111 

tluit  for  a  long  time  to  come  the  suggestions  substan- 
liully  as  outlined  in  the  following  memorandum  will  be 
in  force: — 

Memorandum  with  Regard  to  Cooperation  between  Labor 
Exchanges  and  Local  Education  Authorities  exercising  their 
Powers  under  the  Education  {Choice  oj  Employment)  Act, 
1910 

1.  We  have  liad  under  consideration  {a)  the  Education 
(Clioice  of  Employment)  Act,  1910,  and  {b)  the  Special  Rules 
with  regard  to  Registration  of  Juvenile  Applicants  in  Eng- 
hmd  and  Wales  made  on  the  7th  Fehruary,  1910,  by  the 
Board  of  Trade  after  consultation  with  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion, under  the  Labor  Exchanges  Act,  1909.  and  i)riuled  as 
an  appendix  to  the  present  memorandum.  Under  the  new 
act  the  councils  of  counties  and  comity  boroughs,  as  local  ed- 
ucation autiiurities,  are  empowered  to  make  arrangements, 
subject  to  the  approval  of  tlie  Board  of  Education,  for  giving 
to  boys  and  girls  under  seventeen  years  of  age  assistance 
with  respect  to  the  choice  of  suitable  emy)loymcut,  by  means 
of  the  collection  and  the  communication  of  information  and 
the  furnishing  of  advice.  In  the  special  rules  of  the  Board  of 
Trade  two  alternative  methods  are  indicated  by  which  in- 
formation, advice,  and  assistance  with  respect  to  the  choice 
of  enii)loyment  and  other  matters  bearing  thereon  can  be 
given  to  boys  and  girls  and  their  parents  in  connection  with 
the  working  of  labor  exchanges.  Paragraphs  2  to  5  of  the 
rules  make  provision  for  the  establishuKnit  by  the  Board  of 
Trade  of  sj)ecial  advisory  committees  for  juvenile  employ- 
ment, which  may,  as  one  of  their  functions,  take  steps  to  give 
such  information,  advice,  and  assistance,  but  without  any 
responsibility  with  regard  thereto  being  imdertaken  by  the 
Board  of  Trade  or  the  officers  in  charge  of  lal)or  exchanges. 
Paragraph  6  of  the  special  rules  contemplates  the  case  of  a 
local  education  authority  which  has  and  desires  to  exercise 
statutory  poAvers  for  the  purposes  of  giving  infornuition, 
advice,  and  assistance,  and  ])rovides  that,  where  such  ])owers 
are  exercised  in  accordance  with  u  satisfactory  scheme,  the 


112        YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

registration  of  juvenile  applicants  for  employment  shall  not 
be  conducted  by  the  labor  exchange  except  in  accordance 
with  the  scheme,  and  that  the  Board  of  Trade  may  dispense 
with  the  services  of  a  special  advisory  committee  so  far  as  the 
area  of  the  authority  is  concerned.  The  enactment  of  the 
Education  (Choice  of  Employment)  Act,  1910,  renders  it 
possible  for  the  procedure  contemplated  by  paragraph  6  of 
the  special  rules  to  be  brought  into  operation. 

2.  We  are  of  opinion  that  the  employment  of  juveniles 
should  be  primarily  considered  from  the  point  of  vienv  of  their 
educational  interests  and  permanent  careers  rather  than 
from  that  of  their  immediate  earning  capacities,  and  accord- 
ingly we  urge  upon  local  education  authorities  the  desirabil- 
ity of  undertaking,  in  accordance  with  the  principles  set  out 
in  the  present  memorandum,  the  responsibilities  offered  to 
them  by  the  new  act.  We  consider  that  it  is  of  importance 
that  these  responsibilities  should  be  exercised  in  the  fullest 
cooperation  with  the  national  system  of  labor  exchanges  es- 
tablished imder  the  Labor  Exchanges  Act,  1909,  and  the 
Board  of  Education  will,  therefore,  before  approving  any 
proposals  from  local  education  authorities  for  the  exercise  of 
their  new  powers,  require  adequate  provision  to  be  made  for 
such  cooperation.  Where  a  satisfactory  scheme  has  been 
brought  into  force  by  a  local  education  authority,  paragraph 
6  of  the  special  rules  will  operate,  and  the  Board  of  Trade 
will  be  prepared  to  recognize  a  committee  of  the  author- 
ity as  charged  with  the  duty  of  giving  advice  with  regard 
to  the  management  of  the  labor  exchange  for  its  area  in 
relation  to  juvenile  applicants  for  employment.  There  are 
certain  areas  in  which,  pending  the  passing  of  the  act,  the 
Board  of  Trade  have  already  established,  or  have  definitely 
undertaken  to  establish,  special  advisory  committees  under 
paragraphs  2  to  5  of  the  special  rules,  and  we  presume  that 
the  local  education  authorities  for  these  areas  will  desire  to 
continue  the  arrangements  already  made,  at  least  until  some 
further  experience  has  been  gained,  and  will  consequently 
defer  the  exercise  of  their  powers  under  the  act.  So  far  as 
other  areas  are  concerned,  the  Board  of  Trade  do  not  pro- 
pose to  take  any  steps  for  the  establishment  of  special  ad- 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  IN   ENGLAND      113 

visory  committees  until  after  the  31st  December,  1911,  ex- 
cept in  the  event  of  the  local  education  authority  passing?  a 
formal  resolution  to  the  efTect  that  they  do  not  i)ropose  to  ex- 
ercise their  powers  under  the  Choice  of  Employment  Act. 

3.  We  recognize  that  the  methods  to  he  adopted  hy  au- 
thorities in  working  the  act  must  necessarily  be  subject  to 
considerable  variations  in  accordance  with  local  conditions, 
and  will,  in  particular,  be  affected  by  the  distribution  of  the 
labor  exchanges,  the  districts  of  which  are  not  necessarily 
coterminous  with  the  areas  of  authorities.  We  think,  how- 
ever, that  in  normal  cases  some  such  arrangements  as  are 
indicated  in  the  following  paragraphs  are  likely  to  be  found 
efifective  in  practice  and  may  be  expected  to  insure  a  rea- 
sonable distribution  and  correlation  of  functions  between 
the  authorities  and  the  labor  exchanges. 

4.  The  work  to  be  undertaken  by  public  bodies  in  giving 
assistance  in  the  choice  of  employment  for  juveniles  may  be 
regarded  as  having  two  branches.  In  the  first  i)lace,  there  is 
the  task  of  giving  such  advice  to  boys  and  girls  and  their 
parents  as  will  induce  them  to  extend  where  possible  the 
period  of  education  and  to  select,  when  employment  becomes 
necessary,  occupations  which  are  suited  to  the  individiial 
capacities  of  the  children  and,  by  preference,  those  which 
afTord  prospects  not  merely  of  immediate  wages,  but  also 
of  useful  training  and  permanent  employment.  In  the  second 
place,  there  is  tlie  practical  task  of  registering  the  actual  ap- 
plications for  employment  and  bringing  the  applicants  into 
touch  with  employers  who  have  notified  vacancies  of  the 
kind  desired. 

5.  In  any  scheme  of  cooperation  put  forward  imder  the 
new  act,  the  first  of  these  two  tasks  —  that  of  giving  advice 
—  should,  we  think,  be  assigned  to  the  local  edxication  au- 
thority, with  the  assistance  of  such  information  as  to  the 
con<litions  and  prospects  of  particular  kinds  of  employment 
as  can  be  furnislied  by  the  Board  of  Trade  through  the  labor 
exchanges.  We  think  that  the  authority  should  act  through 
a  special  subcommittee,  which  may,  perhaps,  also  be  the  sub- 
committee charged  with  the  supervision  of  continuation  and 
technical  schools,  and  which  should  always  include  an  adc- 


114        YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

qiiate  number  of  members  possessing  experience  or  knowl- 
edge of  iiuiustrial  as  well  as  of  educational  conditions.  In 
its  detailed  working,  which  should  include  the  keeping  in 
touch  with  boys  and  girls  after  as  well  as  before  employment 
has  been  found  for  them,  such  a  subcommittee  will,  we 
trust,  realize  to  the  full  the  services  not  only  of  teachers  and 
of  school  attendance  officers,  but  also  of  voluntary'  workers, 
whose  activities  may  here  find  one  of  their  most  valuable 
educational  spheres;  but  the  work  will  be  of  a  kind  which 
depends  largely  upon  skilled  and  effective  organization,  and 
it  will  probably  be  found  desirable,  as  a  rule,  to  put  at  the 
disposal  of  the  subcommittee  an  executive  officer,  who  will 
act  as  its  secretary  and  maintain  the  daily  contact  between 
the  authority,  the  voluntary  workers,  and  the  labor  exchange. 
6.  As  regards  the  second  of  these  two  tasks,  namely,  the 
registration  of  applications  for  employment  and  the  selection 
of  applicants  to  fill  vacancies  notified  by  employers,  there  is 
need  for  cooperation  between  the  education  authority  and 
the  labor  exchange,  and  direct  relations  should  be  established 
between  the  subcommittee  or  officer  of  the  authority  and 
the  officer  in  charge  of  the  juvenile  department  of  the  labor 
exchange.  For  this  purpose  it  will  probably  be  found  con- 
venient for  the  two  officers  to  be  located  in  the  same  or  con- 
tiguous buildings.  At  present  a  good  deal  of  the  work  done 
in  connection  with  the  employment  of  children  is  done  at  the 
elementary  and  other  schools  at  which  the  children  are  in  at- 
tendance, and  no  doubt  this  will  continue  to  be  the  case,  at 
any  rate  so  far  as  the  giving  of  advice  is  concerned;  but  we 
desire  to  point  out  that  the  notification  of  applications  for 
employment  to  a  central  office  will  increase  the  range  of  va- 
cancies open  to  any  one  applicant  and  will  therefore  advance 
the  fundamental  object  of  placing  each  applicant  in  the  em- 
ployment which  best  suits  him  and  to  which  he  is  best  suited. 
We  contemplate,  therefore,  that  applications  for  employ- 
ment from  children  still  at  school  will  continue  to  be  received 
and  entered  upon  the  necessary  cards  by  their  teacher,  but 
that  the  cards  will  then,  generally  speaking,  be  forwarded  by 
him  to  the  authority's  officer.  The  applications  from  boj's 
and  girls  who  have  left  school  can,  we  think,  most  conven- 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  IN  ENGLAND      IIJ 

iently  he  registered  by  the  oflBcer  of  the  labor  exchange,  but 
arrangements  should  be  made  to  admit  of  such  applicants 
being  interviewed  by  the  authority's  officer  either  at  the  time 
of  registration  or  as  soon  as  i)ossible  after,  as  it  is  desirable 
that  thej'  should  be  fully  advised  before  vacancies  for  em- 
ployment are  brought  to  their  notice.  All  applications  re- 
ceived in  either  of  the  ways  indicated  should  at  once  be  made 
available  either  in  original  or  in  coi)ies  for  the  use  both  of  the 
education  authority  and  of  the  labor  exchange.  Notifications 
of  vacancies  for  employment  should  be  made  to  the  officer  of 
the  labor  exchange,  who  will  furnish  the  authority's  officer 
with  information  as  to  each  vacancy  for  which  he  proposes 
to  submit  a  boy  or  girl,  and  with  the  name  of  any  boy  or  girl 
whom  he  proposes  to  submit  for  it.  Information  passing  be- 
tween the  authority  and  the  labor  exchange  will  naturally 
be  held  to  be  strictly  for  the  purposes  of  their  cociiKTation. 
We  anticipate  that  in  ordinary  cases  the  question  whether  a 
particular  vacancy  is  suitable  for  a  particular  boj'  or  girl  will 
give  rise  to  no  difference  of  opinion  between  the  two  officers. 
It  will,  however,  probably  l)e  necessary  to  provide  for  the 
possibility  of  a  difference  of  opinion.  We  think,  therefore, 
that  as  a  rule  the  decision  should  rest  with  the  authority's 
representative  as  regards  any  child  who  is  still  in  attendance 
at  an  elementary  or  other  day  school  or  has  not  left  the  day 
school  more  than  six  months  previously,  and  that  as  regards 
applicants  who  have  passed  this  limit  the  decision  should  rest 
with  the  officer  of  tlie  lal)or  exchange,  who  will,  however, 
consult  the  authority's  representative  in  all  cases  in  which 
this  is  practicable,  and  will  in  all  cases  inform  him  as  to  the 
manner  in  which  each  vacancy  is  ultimately  filled. 

7.  Should  any  scheme  be  submitted  for  the  approval  of 
the  board  of  education  under  the  act  in  which  it  is  proposed 
to  vary  these  limits  or  otherwise  to  depart  materially  from 
the  scheme  of  cooperation  outlined  in  this  memorandum,  it 
should  be  accompanied  by  a  full  statement  of  the  special 
reasons  urged  by  the  local  education  authority  in  support  of 
the  proposed  variation.  The  si)ecial  circumstances  of  the 
case  will  then  be  considered  jointly  by  the  two  departments. 


116         YOUTH,   SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

Not  only  was  cooperation  with  the  schools  sought 
for  at  the  starting  of  the  labor  exchanges,  but  begin- 
nings were  made,  too,  in  enlisting  the  help  of  the 
school  medical  inspectors  and  the  certifying  factory 
surgeons.  The  industrial  district  of  Dewsbury  illus- 
trates the  type  of  service  sought.  The  factory  surgeon 
for  the  Dewsbury  district  reports  to  the  advisory 
committee  on  every  child  who  is  rejected  from  em- 
ployment because  of  any  physical  handicap.  The 
committee's  secretary  then  visits  such  a  child  and  en- 
deavors to  obtain  for  it  either  suitable  employment  or 
necessary  medical  treatment.  It  was  found  in  the 
early  cases  that  children  had  been  working  for  months 
after  being  rejected  by  the  doctor  because  of  defects 
which  slight  medical  care  would  remedy,  but  no  atten- 
tion was  paid  to  these  defects  until  the  secretary  hunted 
up  the  children. 

For  the  sake  of  clearness  the  situation  with  regard 
to  the  two  acts  just  mentioned  is  summarized.  In  Eng- 
land and  Wales  two  methods  of  administering  juvenile 
employment  schemes  are  in  operation:  One  is  the 
Board  of  Trade  scheme,  whereby  that  board  conducts 
a  juvenile  labor  exchange  as  part  of  the  national  sys- 
tem of  labor  exchanges  throughout  the  country,  and 
furnishes  both  the  funds  and  the  officials.  In  such  case 
the  board  appoints  a  local  committee  of  representa- 
tive men  and  women,  called  the  juvenile  advisory 
committee,  whose  duty  it  is  to  cooperate  with  the  ex- 
change officers.  London  affords  a  striking  example  of 
this  type  of  development. 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  IN  ENGLAND      117 

The  other  method  permits  the  juvenile  exchanj^c  to 
be  administered  by  the  local  education  authority, 
namely,  the  education  committee  of  the  council,  pro- 
vided that  said  local  authority  submits  a  scheme  to  the 
lioard  of  Education  which  can  be  approved  under  the 
joint  memorandum  already  described.  On  approval, 
the  Board  of  Education  sanctions  a  grant  of  money  in 
aid  of  the  advisory  work  of  the  local  labor  exchange. 
It  will  be  seen  that  this  is  an  adaptation  of  the  plan 
followed  by  Scotland  in  organizing  its  emi)loyment 
information  bureaus  in  close  coordination  with  the 
schools,  some  time  before  the  national  system  of  labor 
exchanges  came  into  existence.  Nearly  twoscore  local 
education  authorities  are  now  conducting  such  school 
advisory  and  employment  agencies,  the  best  known 
being  those  in  Birmingham,  Liverpool,  and  Cambridge. 
A  dozen  or  more  additional  cities  and  towns  have  sub- 
mitted schemes  which  are  awaiting  approval. 

As  regards  the  plan  of  work  there  are  certain  basic 
features  common  to  all  the  juvenile  labor  exchanges, 
whether  under  the  Board  of  Trade  or  the  local  educa- 
tion authorities.  These  features  are,  first,  keeping  a 
record  of  the  children  leaving  school  for  work;  second, 
offering  advice  and  guidance  to  boys  and  girls  between 
fourteen  and  seventeen  years  of  age;  third,  granting 
interviews  to  parents  and  others  who  desire  to  consult 
the  officials;  fourth,  keeping  a  register  of  the  ])ositions 
open.  Perhaps  the  most  striking  of  these  features,  and 
it  is  at  this  point  that  nationalization  is  the  strongest, 


118        YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

is  the  opportunity  now  open  to  boys  and  girls  for  in- 
dividual advice  and  care  when  leaving  the  elementary 
schools.  The  schools  have  to  turn  over  to  the  juvenile 
bureau  the  printed  card  forms  on  which  are  entered 
particulars  as  to  health,  character,  aptitudes,  etc.,  of 
all  the  leaving  pupils.  These  records  have  to  be  passed 
in  for  all  pupils,  whether  they  desire  assistance  in  find- 
ing employment  or  not.  The  records  are  not  always 
thorough  or  intelligible,  because  not  all  teachers  and 
schools  perform  this  duty  conscientiously.  Indeed, 
some  records  seem  to  be  valueless ;  still  this  is  not  a  criti- 
cism of  the  scheme  as  a  whole,  for  such  deficiencies  are 
remediable.  The  school  usually  puts  itself  on  record 
with  the  records  of  its  children. 

These  advisory  committees  represent  a  vast  amount 
of  unpaid  public-spirited  service.  They  are  unique  to 
England.  The  juvenile  labor  exchanges  have  profited 
greatly  by  their  interest  and  coojieration.  In  London 
and  elsewhere  these  committees  are  divided  into  sub- 
committees known  as  "rotas,"  in  sessions  of  which  the 
members  take  turns  in  personally  advising  the  out- 
going boys  and  girls.  American  opinion  regards  the 
task  of  interviewing  and  advising  as  perhaps  the  most 
complicated  and  delicate  service  in  vocational  guid- 
ance, one  demanding  insight,  expert  knowledge,  and  a 
specialized  training  besides.  That  volunteers  should 
undertake  so  difficult  a  task  argues  leisure  and  great 
devotion.  It  seems  hardly  probable,  however,  that  this 
particular  feature  of  the  English  work  will  be  perma- 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  IN  ENGLAND      no 

ncntly  left  to  the  volunteer.  Guidance  during  the  crit- 
ical years  of  adolescence  is,  as  has  been  indicated,  the 
principal  aim  of  the  Choice  of  Em])loynient  Act,  with 
employment  as  a  secondary  consideration.  The  grant 
allowed  by  the  Board  of  Education  is  specially  stated 
to  be  in  aid  of  the  executive  officer,  or  officers,  ap- 
pointed by  a  local  education  authority  for  this  work:  — 

In  view  of  the  great  importance  of  the  duties  of  such  an 
officer,  and  of  the  necessity  of  securing  tlioroughly  adefpiate 
quiilifications,  the  board  is  prepared  to  make  annual  grant,s 
in  aid  of  approved  salaries  paid  to  executive  officers  in  re- 
spect to  duties  carried  out  in  accordance  with  the  scheme 
under  section  1  of  the  Choice  of  Employment  Act. 

The  Board  of  Trade  scheme  expressly  disclaims  re- 
sponsibility with  regard  to  any  advice  or  assistance 
given  by  its  committees.  The  education  officers,  on  the 
other  hand,  representing,  as  they  do,  the  locally  elected 
authority,  which  is  accountable  to  a  local  constituency, 
act,  as  a  matter  of  course,  with  a  lively  sense  of  inti- 
mate and  responsible  relationship  to  the  children.  The 
school  employment  bureaus  are  not  without  advisory 
committees  of  their  own.  Members  of  the  care  com- 
mittees, which  have  been  dealing  thus  far  with  school 
feeding  and  other  needs  of  poor  children,  are  rapidly 
including  vocational  assistance  among  their  duties, 
while  frequently  they  are  appointed  to  the  Board  of 
Trade  juvenile  advisory  committees. 

A  detailed  description  of  a  few  of  the  foremost  voca- 
tional aid  enterprises  in  England  and  Scotland  follows, 
the  work  in  London  being  first  under  consideration. 


120        YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

London 

With  nearly  70,000  children  leaving  the  elementary 
schools  each  year,  the  problem  in  London  is  sufficiently 
appalling.  Volunteer  service  has  developed  here  to  an 
extraordinary  degree.  The  London  County  Council 
with  its  energetic  education  committee  and  system  of 
care  committees;  the  Board  of  Trade  with  its  strong 
central  juvenile  advisory  committee  and  eighteen 
local  advisory  committees;  the  apprenticeship  and 
skilled  employment  committees;  befriending  commit- 
tees; and  other  agencies  in  bewildering  variety  —  all 
these  make  the  work  in  London  deserving,  indeed,  of 
a  separate  monograph.  The  magnitude  of  London's 
problem,  and  the  impossibility  of  dealing  with  it  in  the 
way  smaller  communities  attack  their  vocational  aid 
problems  has  made  the  London  scheme  unique.  To 
understand  the  workings  of  the  vocational  help  ma- 
chinery in  London,  it  will  be  necessary  to  consider  first 
the  organization  of  the  London  juvenile  advisory  com- 
mittee. This  is  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Trade  to 
cooperate  with  the  juvenile  labor  exchanges  in  the  area 
known  as  the  administrative  county  of  London.  It 
consists  of :  — 

1.  Six  persons  nominated  by  the  London  County 
Council. 

2.  Six  persons  possessing  special  knowledge  of  chil- 
dren and  juvenile  employment. 

3.  Three  employers. 

4.  Three  workpeople. 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  IN  ENGLAND     121 

It  is  the  duty  of  this  committee  to  advise  the  Board 
of  Trade  from  time  to  time  in  regard  to  all  matters 
relating  to  the  management  of  the  juvenile  branches 
of  the  labor  exchanges,  and  in  particular  to  form  com- 
mittees in  connection  with  each  local  labor  exchange. 
In  addition,  it  supervises  and  directs  the  work  of  such 
local  committees. 

This  central  committee  ajipoints  the  local  advis- 
ory committee  whenever  a  juvenile  labor  exchange  is 
started  in  London. 

Thirty  persons  constitute  the  local  advisory  com- 
mittee. Of  these,  ten  are  nominated  by  the  London 
County  Council  and  two  by  the  consultative  com- 
mittee of  London  head  teachers,  while  there  cannot 
be  less  than  four  representatives  of  employers  and 
four  representatives  of  work])eople.  The  remainder  is 
made  up  of  persons  specially  interested  in  the  welfare 
of  young  persons,  and  includes  teachers  and  social 
workers. 

The  following  are  the  functions  of  the  local  com- 
mittee as  prescribed  by  the  Board  of  Trade:  — 

1.  To  focus  the  existing  scattered  efforts  of  different  or- 
ganizations dealing  with  juvenile  employment  in  the 
locality. 

2.  To  organize  a  systematic  procedure  for  obtaining,  in  co- 
operation witli  teachers  and  the  care  committees,  knowl- 
edge of  the  character,  qualifications,  and  home  condi- 
tions of  children  about  to  leave  school,  and  about  to 
register  at  the  labor  exchange  as  api)licants  for  em- 
ployment. 

3.  To  form  subcommittees  or  "rotas"  to  attend  at  the  ex- 


122        YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

change  for  the  purpose  of  interviewing  applicants  and 

tlieir  parents  in  order  to  — 

(a)  Give  advice  with  regard  to  employment  in  general 

and  with  regard  to  particular  vacancies. 
(h)   To  endeavor  to  secure  the  attendance  of  boys  and 

girls  at  evening  continuation  or  technical  classes. 

4.  To  secure  in  cooperation  with  the  labor  exchange  au- 
thorities that  — 

(a)  Employers  are  informed  as  to  the  work  of  the  local 
committees. 

(b)  Adequate  information  is  obtained  as  to  the  condi- 
tions and  prospects  of  particular  trades  and  situa- 
tions. 

(c)  The  records  of  all  information  relative  to  children, 
employers,  and  employment  are  so  kept  as  to  be 
readily  available  for  the  purpose  of  the  committee. 

5.  In  cooperation  with  care  committees,  boys'  and  girls' 
cluljs,  and  institutions  for  the  welfare  of  juveniles,  to 
organize  a  system  for  keeping  in  touch  with  such  boys 
and  girls  when  placed  as  may  be  thought  to  need  super- 
vision. 

6.  To  report  periodically  and  make  suggestions  to  the 
London  juvenile  advisory  committee  and  to  carry  out 
such  instructions  as  may  from  time  to  time  be  issued 
by  them. 

A  local  committee  may  recommend  to  the  London 
juvenile  advisory  committee  the  names  of  persons  as 
new  members  of  the  local  committee  provided  the 
number  (30)  is  not  exceeded.  It  is  also  within  the 
power  of  a  local  committee  to  recommend  to  the  Lon- 
don advisory  committee  the  names  of  persons  to  serve 
on  rotas,  as  approved  workers,  without  being  members 
of  the  local  committee.  Local  advisory  committees  are 
concerned  with  juveniles  under  the  age  of  seventeen. 

The  authorities  are  under  no  delusion  as  to  the 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  IN  ENGLAND      123 

number  of  what  may  be  termed  really  satisfactory 
oi)cnings  for  children.  Returns  of  the  occupations  fol- 
lowed by  boys  on  leaving  school  were  obtained  a  few 
years  ago  by  the  London  County  Council.  Tiiese  re- 
turns showed  that  about  half  of  the  boys  entered 
"blind-alley"  employments,  and,  at  most,  a  third 
found  employment  in  any  class  of  work  which  could  be 
in  any  manner  regarded  as  skilled.  Employers  offer- 
ing vacancies  of  the  less  satisfactory  kind  are  able  to  do 
without  any  help  from  labor  exchanges.  For  a  long 
time  they  will  continue  to  be  able  to  do  so,  despite  all 
labor  exchanges.  Many  children  must  work  as  soon  as 
possible;  their  poverty  is  real.  Now  the  records  show 
how  limited  is  the  number  of  good  openings,  amount- 
ing, indeed,  in  the  cases  of  the  boys  to  not  more  than 
about  a  third  of  the  available  positions.  Obviously 
the  remaining  two  thirds  of  the  boys  in  search  of  work 
are  driven  to  unpromising  and  undesirable  sorts  of 
work. 

This  situation  is  bad,  and  it  will  not  be  remedied 
alone  by  the  establishment  of  advisory  committees. 
Nevertheless,  there  is  a  positive  social  gain  in  the  ex- 
istence of  these  committees.  Vacancies  of  any  kind 
will  be  filled,  no  matter  what  any  connnittee  may 
think;  but  they  are  now  to  an  increasing  extent  filled 
with  the  knowledge  of  the  labor  exchange  people. 

The  advisory  committee  is  enabled  to  keep  in  touch 
with  the  boy;  they  may  be  able  to  find  him  more  suit- 
able employment  at  a  later  date;  but  they  are,  at  any 


124         YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

rate,  in  a  position  to  trace  his  industrial  career  and 
ascertain  exactly  the  effect  his  work  has  upon  him. 

There  can  never  be  a  satisfactory  solution  of  the 
problem  of  juvenile  employment  until  detailed  and 
conclusive  information  is  available  regarding  the  con- 
ditions of  boy  and  girl  labor. 

It  is  hoped  that  the  advisory  committees,  in  their 
dealing  with  disadvantageous  forms  of  employment, 
will  be  in  a  position  to  point  out  what  further  public 
action  is  necessary  to  remedy  evils  which  may  be  dis- 
covered. 

A  very  large  percentage  of  children  who  apply  to  the 
exchange  do  not  obtain  employment  through  the  ex- 
change. Of  the  juveniles  who  register,  little  more  than 
half  are  found  employment.  The  remainder  find  work 
on  their  own  account,  and  nothing  more  is  known  of 
their  careers.  To  remedy  this  deficiency  is,  perhaps, 
the  committee's  most  important  duty. 

A  most  important  feature  of  the  local  advisory  com- 
mittees' work  is  the  attempt  to  organize  a  system 
under  which  accurate  information  may  be  obtained  of 
the  industrial  career  of  each  boy  and  girl  placed.  The 
committee  endeavors  to  test  the  value  of  its  work  by 
reviewing  the  progress  of  the  placed  children.  The 
point  of  view  of  the  child,  his  parent,  as  well  as  the 
opinion  of  the  employer,  are  ascertained.  A  boy  may 
have  been  placed  in  employment  for  which  he  is  phys- 
ically or  otherwise  vmfitted,  or  he  may  be  given  a 
situation  with  prospects  of  permanent  employment. 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  IN   ENGLAND      125 

He  may  have  taken  up  work  in  which  he  can  hope  to 
be  successful  only  by  taking  certain  special  training 
courses.  He  is  advised  accordingly.  Some  employers 
require  certain  qualifications  in  the  worker  engaged.  It 
is  desirable  that  the  committee  should  know  such 
facts.  Now  all  this  kind  of  information,  so  essential  to 
good  work  by  an  advisory  conmiittee,  can  be  secured 
only  through  investigation. 

An  interesting  method  of  ascertaining  the  industrial 
progress  of  the  young  workers  has  been  adopted  by 
some  advisory  committees:  — 

Every  juvenile,  when  he  is  placed,  is  invited  to  call 
at  the  exchange  jjeriodically  and  let  the  committee 
know  how  he  is  getting  on.  He  comes  in  the  evening 
when  rotas  are  meeting.  A  notice  of  such  meetings 
sometimes  appears  in  the  window  of  the  exchange.  It 
is  found  that  children  make  considerable  use  of  this 
opi)ortunity  of  consulting  the  secretary  or  committee. 

Some  local  advisory  committees  have  established 
cooperation  between  themselves  and  the  local  certify- 
ing factory  surgeons,  who,  in  certain  cases,  have  under- 
taken to  notify  the  advisory  committee  of  the  names 
of  rejected  children,  with  a  recommendation  as  to  the 
type  of  employment  for  which  they  are  best  suited. 
The  advisory  committees  endeavor  to  j^lace  the  juve- 
niles in  accordance  with  the  physician's  disclosures. 

This,  then,  in  broad  outline,  is  the  work  of  the  Lon- 
don advisory  committee  and  its  local  committees. 
There  is  an  earnest  endeavor,  first,  to  know  the  chil- 


126         YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

dren,  their  needs  and  capabilities;  secondly,  to  place 
them  as  advantageously  as  conditions  will  allow;  and 
thirdly,  to  study  results  of  this  placement  through  the 
system  of  after-care  which  is  being  developed.  The 
facts  which  will  be  forthcoming  after  a  few  years'  trial 
of  this  great  enterprise  will  be  invaluable  for  their  il- 
lumination of  industrial  conditions  as  reflected  in  the 
careers  of  the  children  studied,  and  of  special  service 
in  the  formulation  of  future  educational  and  social 
policies. 

The  London  schools  are  being  brought  into  close 
working  relation  with  the  exchanges.  Many  teachers 
are  breaking  away  from  the  traditional  silence  and 
routine  of  the  English  teaching  body,  and  are  making 
personal  studies  on  their  own  account  of  the  children 
who  leave  prematurely  for  wage-earning. 

As  yet  the  United  Kingdom  is  not  ready  for  the 
German  system  of  compulsory  daytime  instruction  for 
young  workers.  Attention  is  therefore  centered  on 
existing  shortcomings  in  the  evening  school  system. 
These  defects  are  glaring,  though  not  at  all  peculiar  to 
England.  Dwindling  classes,  indifferent  and  disheart- 
ened students,  the  natural  handicap  of  artificial  light- 
ing, and  weariness  of  both  students  and  teachers  after 
the  day's  toil,  are  familiar  conditions.  The  situation  in 
Great  Britain,  as  with  us,  is  an  indictment  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  voluntary  and  of  evening  attendance  by  chil- 
dren between  fourteen  and  eighteen  years  of  age.  The 
Munich  boy  between  fourteen  and  seventeen  years  of 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  IN  ENGLAND      127 

age,  employed  throu|,'hout  the  year  though  he  may  he, 
is  comj)elled  to  attend  for  two  liundred  and  forty  day- 
light hours  per  session  during  each  of  the  three  years. 
In  London  the  numhcr  of  student  hours  per  enroll- 
ment per  evening  session  amounts  to  something  like 

forty-five. 

Birmingham 

Nowhere  in  England  will  be  found  a  more  intelli- 
gently executed  plan  of  helping  children  start  in  life 
than  in  the  city  of  Birmingham.  The  education  com- 
mittee, through  its  central  care  committee,  has  built  up 
an  organization  of  school  care  committees  which  now 
covers  nearly  the  whole  of  the  city.  The  scheme  op- 
crates  under  the  Choice  of  Employment  Act  and  was 
approved  by  the  Board  of  Education  in  consultation 
with  the  Board  of  Trade  in  July,  1911.  An  integral 
j)art  of  the  Birmingham  scheme  is  the  chain  of  juvenile 
labor  exchanges  distributed  at  central  points  through- 
out the  city,  in  the  management  of  which  there  is  the 
closest  cooperation  between  the  school  and  Board  of 
Trade  officials.  A  corps  of  nearly  fifteen  hundred  men 
and  women,  called  helpers,  undertake  to  interest  them- 
selves in  the  individual  children  and  their  parents  who 
use  the  labor  exchanges.  During  the  first  seventeen 
months  nearly  eleven  thousand  ai)i)lications  were  re- 
ceived from  employers,  and  seven  thousand  children 
under  seventeen  years  of  age  were  placed,  besides 
numbers  of  other  cases  in  which  the  helpers  themselves 
undertook  to  counsel  and  place  the  children. 


128         YOUTH,   SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

About  thirteen  thousand  boys  and  girls  leave  the 
elementary  schools  in  that  city  each  year;  most  of 
them  are  absorbed  by  offices,  factories,  workshops, 
and  warehouses.  The  need  of  guidance  and  training  is 
apparent  as  soon  as  the  careers  of  these  children  are 
scrutinized.  To  meet  this  need,  the  following  plan,  in 
active  operation  for  more  than  two  years,  is  in  charge 
of  the  central  care  committee,  which  devotes  its  atten- 
tion to  the  industrial  problems  of  boys  and  girls  from 
the  time  they  leave  school  until  they  are  seventeen 
years  of  age.  This  committee  consists  of  six  members 
of  the  education  committee,  four  representatives  of 
teachers,  three  of  employers,  three  of  workmen,  four 
social  workers,  the  school  medical  officer,  and  others. 
The  committee  carries  on  its  work  through  two  sets 
of  agencies  (l)  the  juvenile  employment  exchanges, 
and  (2)  school  care  committees. 

The  Central  Juvenile  Employment  Exchange 

This  is  in  charge  of  an  officer  s])eciall5'  appointed 
by  the  Board  of  Trade  on  account  of  his  knowledge, 
training,  and  fitness  for  dealing  with  the  employment 
of  juveniles.  He  attends  the  meetings  of  the  central 
care  committee  and  acts  in  consultation  with  their 
officer. 

The  chief  work  of  the  exchange  is :  — 

(1)  To  receive  and  register  applicants  for  employ- 
ment from  youths  and  girls  under  seventeen  years  of 
age. 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  IN  ENGLAND      129 

(2)  To  receive  and  register  applications  from  em- 
ployers for  juvenile  employees. 

(3)  To  endeavor  to  place  the  applicants  for  employ- 
ment in  the  situations  for  which  they  are  best  suited 
and  in  which  they  are  likely  to  be  most  successful. 

The  exchange  is  in  a  good  position  to  select  the  ap- 
plicant, because  both  the  exchange  and  the  central 
care  committee  have  accumulated  an  immense  amount 
of  information  about  the  various  trades  of  the  city,  and 
so  can  advise  as  to  wages,  prospects,  and  conditions 
in  any  trade.  It  knows  what  trades  lead  to  regular  and 
improving  work,  and  can  caution  against  bad  condi- 
tions and  prospects. 

By  the  time  a  child  applies  for  a  post,  the  officials 
above  mentioned  will  have  in  their  possession  a  report 
concerning  it  from  the  head  teacher  of  its  school,  from 
the  school  medical  officer,  and  from  the  school  care 
committee  helper.  In  the  first  twelve  months  7180 
applicants  were  received  from  employers,  and  4907 
were  filled. 

For  the  convenience  of  parents  and  juvenile  appli- 
cants five  branch  exchanges  have  been  opened  in  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  city. 

ScJiool  care  comviittees 

The  scheme  jjrovides  for  the  appointment  of  a  school 
care  committee  for  each  elementary  school  in  the  city. 
Many  schools  thus  have  their  own  care  connnittees. 
In  a  number  of  cases  it  has  been  found  advisal^le  to 


130         YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

group  several  neighboring  schools  under  one  care 
committee.  These  committees  consist  of  school  man- 
agers, teachers,  and  others  prepared  to  interest  them- 
selves actively  in  boys  and  girls.  The  members  are  as- 
signed as  "  helpers  "  to  a  small  number  of  children  each. 
The  helper  is  put  in  touch  with  the  boys  or  girls  about 
three  months  before  they  leave  school,  and  at  once 
tries  to  set  up  a  friendly  relation  with  the  parents  as 
well  as  with  the  children  by  visits  to  the  home  or  by 
other  means. 

The  helper  endeavors  to  keep  in  touch  with  the  boy 
or  girl  for  about  three  years.  This,  as  regards  employ- 
ment, is  necessary  to  counteract  the  aimless  drifting  or 
the  capricious  change  from  job  to  job,  to  give  encour- 
agement to  face  and  overcome  difficulties,  to  see  that, 
if  changes  are  advisable,  they  are  made  for  the  youth's 
benefit  and  do  not  give  rise  to  intervals  of  disastrous 
unemployment. 

The  conditions  under  which  boys  and  girls  are  em- 
ployed are  in  many  places  quite  unsatisfactory,  and 
have  a  bad  effect  morally  or  physically,  or  both.  In- 
formation is  gathered  by  the  central  care  committee 
and  the  juvenile  employment  exchanges,  which  some 
day  doubtless  will  be  used  to  improve  these  conditions. 

Further  education  and  kindred  influences 

The  helper  takes  an  interest,  and  stimulates  the 
parents'  interest,  too,  in  further  education  of  the  boys 
and  girls.    They  are  urged,  where  the  hours  of  work 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  IN  ENGLAND     131 

allow,  to  join  classes  at  the  technical  schools,  schools  of 
art,  evening  continuation  schools,  or  at  such  institu- 
tions as  may  be  most  suitable  to  the  individual  cases. 

Again,  meetings  of  parents  are  held  from  time  to 
time,  such  as  have  already  been  organized  by  several 
school  care  committees;  also  meetings  of  boys  and 
girls  about  to  leave  school  or  who  have  recently  left. 
These  meetings  are  found  to  be  valuable  means  of 
rousing  interest  in  the  future  well-being  of  the  children. 

The  helper's  notebook  is  an  interesting  device  for 
keeping  track,  not  only  of  the  children,  but  of  the 
helper's  effectiveness  as  well.  These  notebooks  when 
carefully  employed  are  a  veritable  store  of  social  in- 
formatioi).  Four  pages  from  such  a  notebook  are  here 
reproduced  as  pages  133  to  136. 

The  relation  of  the  Birmingham  teachers  to  the 
scheme  herein  outlined  is  real  and  active.  Many  head 
teachers  use  commendable  care  in  the  reports  on  the 
children  who  leave  school.  These  reports  indicate  the 
groups  of  cliildren  which  in  the  teacher's  judgment 
need  a  good  deal  of  after-care,  those  which  need  only  a 
moderate  amount,  and  those  which  need  no  after-care 
except  perhaps  as  to  continued  education.  For  the 
first  eight  months  during  which  these  records  were 
kept,  nearly  half  of  about  nine  thousand  cases  were 
referred  to  the  school  care  committees,  which  in  turn 
called  ui)()n  the  helpers  for  assistance.  Many  organiza- 
tions in  Birmingham,  particularly  those  interested  in 
boys,  have  been  enlisted  in  the  scheme.    Here  social 


132         YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

workers  and  teachers,  as  is  the  case  in  Boston,  New 
York,  Cincinnati,  and  other  cities,  have  been  giving 
their  time  and  their  energy  generously  to  the  work. 
Parents'  meetings  are  carried  on  by  many  school  care 
committees.  Employers  are  often  the  speakers  at  such 
meetings. 

With  reference  to  girl  labor,  Birmingham  presents 
the  problem  characteristic  of  our  own  American  cities. 
The  girls  desire  office  work  and  too  many  take  courses 
in  shorthand  and  typewTiting.  The  start  in  life  for 
these  girls  is  diflBcult,  indeed,  and  the  outcome  quite 
unsatisfactory.  The  market  for  stenographers  and 
oflBce  workers  is  overstocked.  The  element  amongst 
whom  the  exchange  renders  its  most  useful  service  is 
that  group  of  girls  who,  desiring  a  manual  occupation, 
have  been  guided  into  the  better  trades,  such  as  book- 
binding, leather-stitching,  etc.  As  in  the  case  of  the 
boys,  there  is  a  great  demand  for  girl  labor.  The  city 
has  not  adequately  faced,  and  few  cities  have- faced, 
the  problem  of  vocational  guidance  for  girls.  Two  use- 
ful handbooks  have  been  issued  by  the  central  care 
committee  as  part  of  a  series  on  the  principal  trades 
and  occupations  in  Birmingham.  One  deals  with  the 
various  trades  for  women  and  girls;  the  other  with 
printing  and  allied  trades.  There  is  much  effort  to 
secure  continued  training  in  evening  schools  for  the 
children  placed. 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  IN  ENGLAND     133 

(1)  Child's  name.    (2)  No 

Address 

School 

(1)  Standard. 

(2)  Date  of  leaving. 

Home  conditions 

Father's  occupation 

Mother's  occupation  (if  any) 

No.  in  family  — 
(1)  over  14 ;  (2)  under  14. 

Social  or  other  organizations 

Evening  school  or  classes  child  promises  to  attend. 

(1)  Promise  or  (2)  Plans  for  employment. 

Will  application  be  made  to  the  J.  E.  Exchange. 

Dates  of  visits • 

Remarks  axd  Notes 


134         YOUTH,   SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 


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VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  IN  ENGLAND     135 


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136         YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

FuKTHEK  Education 

Evening  school  or  class  attended  by  child 

Date  of  (1)  entering 

(2)  Leaving 

Subjects  or  course 

Progress  or  reason  for  leaving 

Employment 

Name  of  employer 

Address  of  employer 

Date  of  (1)  commencing 

(2)  Leaving 

Trade  and  nature  of  work 

(1)  Weekly  virage 

(2)  Daily  hours 

How  employment  obtained 

Progress  or  reason  for  leaving 

Remarks,  Notes,  and  Infobmation  on  Changes  of  Employment,  etc. 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  IN  ENGLAND     137 

Edinburgh 

The  best-known  of  all  the  advisory  and  employment 
schemes  is  probably  that  which  has  been  developed  in 
Edinburgh.  The  thorough  articulation  of  the  advisory, 
placement,  and  continuation  school  activities,  all  for- 
tunately centered  in  one  place,  namely,  in  the  offices 
of  the  Edinburgh  School  lioard,  has  materially  heljjed 
the  work  in  that  city.  Able  school  officials  and  an  ex- 
cellent advisory  committee  have  centered  their  energy 
for  the  past  two  years  on  the  promotion  of  the  central 
information  and  employment  bureau.  The  Edinburgh 
plan  deserves  detailed  consideration. 

As  the  result  of  conferences  with  social  workers, 
educators,  and  such  women  as  Mrs.  Ogilvie  Gordon, 
the  School  Board  decided  early  in  1908  to  establish  a 
bureau  for  vocational  assistance.  In  that  year  the 
Scotland  Act  empowered  the  school  boards  to  use 
money  from  the  school  fund.  No  special  money  was, 
however,  allotted.  Giving  information  was  the  main 
j)urpose  of  the  bureau.  The  organizer  of  continua- 
tion classes,  whose  work  had  brought  him  for  several 
years  in  close  touch  with  employers,  was  placed  in 
charge  of  the  new  bureau. 

The  operation  of  the  Edinburgh  i)lan  is  as  follows :  — 
Several  weeks  before  the  next  fixed  date  for  leaving, 
each  head  master  fills  cards  giving  particulars  of  age, 
physical  conditions,  ability,  attainment,  and  employ- 
ment desired,  for  all  pupils  who  will  leave.  Each  card 


138         YOUTH,   SCHOOL,   AND  VOCATION 

also  contains  the  opinion  of  the  teacher  as  to  the  occu- 
pation for  which  the  pupil  is  suited,  notes  as  to  pro- 
posed employment,  suggestions  for  further  education, 
and  spaces  for  general  remarks.  These  cards  are  sent 
in  to  the  education  officer,  who  files  them  in  a  cabinet. 

Meanwhile  the  fixed  date  approaches.  The  parents 
of  pupils  leaving  school  are  often  invited  to  an  evening 
meeting  at  the  school.  They  are  addressed  by  members 
of  the  Board  and  by  teachers.  To  these  parents,  and 
also  to  those  who  do  not  come  to  the  meetings,  a  cir- 
cular letter  is  sent. 

The  consequence  is  that  a  large  number  of  boys  and 
girls  come  to  the  Board  Office  to  follow  up  the  card. 
The  candidate  first  goes  to  the  exchange  officer's  room 
and  receives  his  card  stamped  with  the  reference  num- 
ber of  the  occupation  desired.  He  passes  to  the  educa- 
tion officer's  room  and  has  a  talk  about  his  aims,  his 
further  education,  and  the  suitability  of  the  career  for 
which  he  has  expressed  a  preference.  The  parents  are 
urged  to  be  present  at  this  interview,  but  unfortunatly 
do  not  always  respond.  The  boy  or  girl  then  passes 
back  to  the  exchange  officer's  room,  and  is  definitely 
registered  as  a  candidate  for  a  particular  kind  of  em- 
ployment. The  cards  of  those  who  have  made  this 
personal  application  are  separated  from  the  others, 
and  they  receive  priority  in  filling  vacancies. 

A  circular  letter  is  sent  to  employers  informing  them 
of  the  joint  arrangement  and  requesting  their  coopera- 
tion.  When  the  employer  writes  or  telephones  asking 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  IN  ENGLAND     139 

for  candidates  for  a  certain  position,  tlie  rcj^nstcr  of 
I)crsonal  applicants  is  first  consulted.  Details  of  the 
request  and  also  of  the  candidates  sent  are  entered  on 
the  employer's  card.  Beyond  the  two  sets  of  cards 
(both  of  which  are  filled  by  the  exchange  officer,  but 
are  always  open  to  inspection  of  the  education  officer) 
no  other  registers  are  kept. 

Both  the  education  officer  and  the  exchange  officer 
make  systematic  visits  to  employers,  the  former  to 
study  industrial  conditions  of  the  employees,  and  to 
gain  ideas  for  improving  the  continuation  classes;  the 
latter  to  bring  to  the  employers'  notice  the  facilities 
for  securing  suitable  workers  through  the  exchange. 

The  following  circulars  are  sent  to  parents  and  chil- 
dren :  — 

Edinburgh  School  Board 

Dear  Sir  or  Madam:  The  memhcrs  of  the  Board  desire 
to  call  your  special  attention  to  the  stei)s  which  they  are 
taking  to  guide  and  advise  young  people  regarding  their 
future  careers  in  life,  and  to  provide  for  them  the  systematic 
training  on  commercial  or  industrial  lines  that  will  best  fit 
them  for  the  occupation  which  they  elect  to  follow. 

Educational  Itiformation  and  Employment  Department 

The  Education  Department  has  recently  pointed  out  that 
it  has  been  matter  of  frecinent  complaiiit  that  tlirougli  want 
of  information  or  proper  guidanee  children,  on  leaving  school, 
are  apt  to  take  up  casual  employments,  which,  tliough  re- 
munerative for  the  moment,  afford  no  real  preparation  for 
earning  a  living  in  later  life.  Tlie  temptation  to  put  a  cliild 
into  tlie  first  opening  that  presents  itself  is  often  very  great. 
Due  regard  is  not  always  paid  to  the  capacities  of  tlie  bo>-s 
and  girls  concerned,  with  the  result  that  many  take  up  work 


140         YOUTH,   SCHOOL,   AND  VOCATION 

which  affords  no  training  and  is  without  prospect,  while 
many  others  are  forced  into  trades  or  professions  for  which 
they  are  unsuited  by  temperament  and  education,  and  for 
which  they  consequently  acquire  a  dislike.  The  result  is  a 
large  amount  of  waste  to  the  community  at  large  and  misery 
to  the  individuals  concerned. 

In  order  to  cooperate  with  parents  in  putting  an  end  to 
this  state  of  matters,  the  Board  in  1908  established  an  edu- 
cational information  and  emplojTnent  bureau.  In  1909  the 
Board  of  Trade  set  up  in  the  city  a  labor  exchange  whose 
juvenile  department  was  intended  to  perform  related  duties 
so  far  as  the  employment  of  young  people  is  concerned.  It 
was  felt  that  in  the  interests  of  economy  and  effective  indus- 
trial organization  a  scheme  of  cooperation  was  desirable.  An 
arrangement  was  therefore  arrived  at  between  the  Edin- 
burgh School  Board  and  the  Board  of  Trade  whereby  the 
work  of  both  departments  is  carried  on  jointly  in  the  present 
office  of  the  School  Board,  and  all  persons  above  fourteen 
and  under  seventeen  years  of  age  are  dealt  with  there.  This 
arrangement  is  working  with  the  utmost  smoothness  and  to 
the  satisfaction  of  all  concerned. 

The  new  organization  combines  the  functions  of  the  edu- 
cational information  and  employment  bureau  and  of  the 
juvenile  branch  of  the  labor  exchange.  Briefly  the§e  are  as 
follows :  — 

1.  To  supply  information  with  regard  to  the  qualifications 
most  required  in  the  various  occupations  of  the  city, 
the  rates  of  wages,  and  the  conditions  of  employment. 

2.  To  give  information  about  the  technical  and  commer- 
cial continuation  classes  having  relation  to  particular 
trades  and  industries. 

3.  To  advise  parents  regarding  the  occupations  for  which 
their  sons  and  daughters  are  most  fitted  when  they 
leave  school. 

4.  To  keep  a  record  of  vacancies  intimated  by  employers 
and  to  arrange  for  suitable  candidates  having  an  op- 
portunity of  applying  for  such  vacancies. 

The  educational  information  and  employment  department 
(entrance   14  Cornwall  Street)  is  open  daily,  from   10  a.m. 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  IN  ENGLAND     141 

to  4  P.M.  (Saturday,  10  a.m.  to  12.30  p.m.),  free  of  charge,  to 
parents  and  pupils  wisliing  information  and  advice  as  to 
education  or  employment. 

To  suit  the  convenience  of  parents  who  cannot  call  during 
the  day,  the  educational  information  and  employment  de- 
partment will  he  open  from  7  to  9  on  the  following  evenings 
in  February  and  March:  Monday,  February  24,  and  Mon- 
day, March  3. 

Thoughts  far  a  hoy  on  choosing  work 

1.  Consider  what  you  are  best  fitted  for;  ask  your  parents 
and  your  teacher  what  they  think. 

2.  Think  of  the  future.  Many  kinds  of  work  done  by  boys, 
such  as  messengers,  van  or  errand  boys,  end  when  a 
boy  is  seventeen  or  eighteen,  and  then  it  is  difficult  for 
him  to  begin  again.  Many  grown  men  are  out  of  work 
who  earned  higli  wages  when  tliey  were  boys;  but  it 
was  at  work  which  led  to  nothing. 

3.  Learn  a  trade  if  you  can  get  the  chance.  Think  how 
good  it  is  to  know  a  trade  at  which  you  can  get  work  in 
other  parts  of  the  country  as  well  as  where  you  live 
now. 

4.  Whilst  you  are  a  boy,  learn  to  work  with  your  hands  — 
that  will  make  your  brain  strong.  With  clever  hands 
and  a  strong  brain  you  have  a  doul)le  chance  in  life. 

5.  Stick  to  your  school  till  the  last  possible  moment,  and 
make  good  use  of  it.  And  "keep  it  up"  by  going  to  a 
continuation  school  when  you  leave  the  day  school, 
or  you  will  find,  in  a  year  or  two,  that  you  have  for- 
gotten much  that  you  knew. 

6.  Remember  that  in  the  continuation  schools  you  can  re- 
ceive instruction  in  courses  of  stiuly  directly  relateil 
to  the  trade  or  business  which  you  propose  to  learn, 
and  that  you  can  continue  at  a  very  moderate  cost  the 
advanced  stages  of  these  courses  at  the  Heriot-Watt 
College  or  the  College  of  Art. 

7.  If  the  work  you  take  up  does  not  suit  you.  or  does  not 
seem  to  leail  to  any  hoi)eful  fulure,  stick  to  it  till  you 
get  something  really  better.    Do  not  wander  from  one 


142        YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

work  to  another,  but  come  back  to  your  school  and  tell 
your  teacher;  he  may  be  able  to  direct  you  to  those  who 
can  advise  you  in  choosing  your  next  work  more  care- 
fully. You  will  find  nothing  perfect;  but  a  good  fight 
and  a  hard  one  before  you  are  eighteen  will  make  the 
rest  of  life  more  easy. 
8.  The  educational  information  and  employment  depart- 
ment, 14  Cornwall  Street,  is  open  daily  from  10  a.m.  to 
4  P.M.  (Saturday,  10  a.m.  to  12.30  p.m.),  and  on  certain 
Monday  evenings  from  7  to  9.  You  can  there  obtain  — 
free  of  charge  —  advice  and  information  as  to  suitable 
employment  and  further  education,  and  through  the 
agency  of  the  department  you  may  obtain  employment 
for  which  you  are  fitted. 

Thoughts  for  a  girl  on  leaving  school 

1.  Consider  what  you  are  best  fitted  for;  ask  your  parents 
and  your  teacher  what  they  think. 

2.  Choose  healthy  work;  remember  that  domestic  service 
offers  food,  home,  and  comfort  as  well  as  work  and 
wages;  that  it  is  the  training  for  the  future  home  life  of 
a  woman;  and  that,  with  character  and  ability,  it  will 
command  good  wages  in  any  part  of  the  country. 

3.  If  you  prefer  a  trade,  choose  one  in  which  you  will  be 
likely  to  find  employment  anywhere  and  at  any  time; 
learn  it  thoroughly  so  that  employers  will  value  your 
services.  Do  not  change  from  one  thing  to  another 
without  good  reason. 

4.  Stick  to  your  school  to  the  last  possible  moment,  and 
make  good  use  of  it;  later  on  you  will  see,  better  than 
you  do  now,  how  much  the  school  work  has  helped. 
And  "keep  it  up  "  by  going  to  a  continuation  school 
when  you  leave  the  day  school. 

5.  Remember  that  in  the  continuation  schools  you  can  re- 
ceive instruction  in  subjects  which  are  directly  related 
to  the  various  occupations  open  to  girls  and  young 
women,  and  also  the  domestic  training  which  will  en- 
able you  to  discharge  with  intelligent  interest  the  re- 
sponsible practical  duties  of  the  home. 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  IN  ENGLAND      143 

6.  If  the  work  you  take  up  is  not  satisfactory,  stick  to  it 
till  you  get  something  really  better.  In  any  case  come 
back  to  the  school  and  tell  your  teacher  how  you  are 
getting  on. 

7.  Be  brave  and  cheerful  in  whatever  work  you  choose. 
You  will  find  nothing  perfect;  but  perseverance  and 
hard  work  during  the  first  few  years  will  make  the  rest 
of  life  more  easy. 

8.  The  educational  information  and  employment  depart- 
ment, 14  Cornwall  Street,  is  open  daily  from  10  a.m.  to 
4  P.M.  (Saturday  10  a.m.  to  12.30  p.m.),  and  on  Monday 
evenings  from  7  to  9.  You  can  there  obtain  —  free  of 
charge  —  advice  and  information  as  to  suitable  employ- 
ment and  further  education,  and  through  the  agency 
of  the  department  you  may  obtain  employment  for 
which  you  are  fitted. 

All  the  Edinburgh  schools  have  received  copies  of 
the  occupational  census,  besides  a  series  of  booklets 
for  boys  and  for  girls.  A  copy  is  sent  to  each  girl  ap- 
proaching the  leaving  age.  The  boys'  booklets  thus 
far  issued  are:  How  to  become  an  Engineer,  How  to  he- 
come  a  Printer,  and  How  to  enter  Civil  Service.  In  the 
twenty  or  more  pages  of  these  booklets  the  following 
points  are  covered :  — 

1.  List  of  industries,  trades,  and  professions  of  the  town 
or  district,  with  names  of  chief  employers. 

2.  Local  demands  for  young  workers  in  the  various  trades 
and  industries. 

3.  Qualifieations  most  required  in  the  various  occuj)ations. 

4.  Conditions  of  apprenticeship  for  each  trade,  etc. 

5.  Beginner's  weekly  wage. 

6.  Miniminn  and  maximum  rates  of  remuneration. 

7.  Possibilities  of  promotion,  etc. 

8.  Statements  regarding  further  educational  courses  and 
the  requirements  of  employers. 


144        YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

Follow-up  work,  as  it  is  known  in  Birmingham  and 
London,  does  not  exist  in  Edinburgh,  but  the  inter- 
est of  the  advisory  council  in  its  work  is  as  great  as 
that  of  any  committee.  The  function  of  this  council  is 
that  of  advising  the  board  as  to  matters  connected  with 
the  training  required  for  the  occupations  open  to  Ed- 
inburgh boys  and  girls,  the  conditions  of  employment, 
and  general  matters  of  school  efficiency.  There  are 
sectional  committees  of  the  council  composed  of  em- 
ployers and  workers,  with  an  educator  or  other  spe- 
cially qualified  persons  added. 

The  main  effort  of  the  advisory  council  is  directed 
toward  the  promotion  of  attendance  at  the  continua- 
tion classes  and  at  other  institutions  in  which  Edin- 
burgh is  fortunate.  The  aggressive  policy  followed  for 
the  past  two  years  with  reference  to  the  evening  in- 
struction of  all  working  minors  has  resulted  in  the  en- 
rollment of  a  large  number  of  young  people.  Aided  by 
the  Law  of  1908,  section  10  of  which  permits  the  fram- 
ing of  rules  for  compulsory  attendance  at  evening 
school,  it  is  quite  likely  that  Edinburgh  will  in  time  en- 
roll all  working  minors  in  evening  classes,  just  as  Glas- 
gow is  attempting  to  do.  When  this  stage  is  reached, 
it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  energy  and  public  interest 
thus  far  manifested  in  this  city  for  the  evening  instruc- 
tion of  working  children  will  be  devoted  to  the  raising 
of  the  school  age  and  to  the  daylight  rather  than  the 
evening  instruction  of  at  least  those  children  between 
fourteen  and  sixteen.   The  present  arrangements  take 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  IN  ENGLAND     145 

more  out  of  the  growing  children  than  the  community 
should  be  willing  to  permit.  No  fourteen-or-fifteen- 
year-old  boy  can  be  safely  confined  to  about  ten  hours 
of  office,  factory,  or  other  work,  and  for  two  hours  or 
more  at  mental  labor  in  a  classroom. 

The  importance  of  this  matter  has  been  recognized 
in  Edinburgh  with  reference  to  the  teaching  staff.  The 
severe  strain  on  continuation-school  teachers  who  have 
other  work  to  do  throughout  the  day  has  led  the  School 
Board  to  decide  that  the  head  teachers  of  the  largest 
schools  shall  be  relieved  half-time  from  day-school 
work  on  such  days  as  they  are  engaged  in  the  evening 
school.  Some  such  safeguard  might  well  be  applied  to 
the  growing  adolescent  in  wage-earning  at  this  period  of 
peculiar  moral  and  physical  strain. 

In  concluding  this  account  of  the  Edinburgh  plan,  it 
may  be  of  interest  to  reproduce  the  regulations  and 
suggestions  pertaining  to  the  working  of  the  educa- 
tional information  and  employment  department :  — 

Regulations  and  Suggestions  as  to  Working  of  the 
Educational  Information  and  Employment 
Department 

1.  Duties  of  director 

1.  To  interview  and  advise  boys  and  girls,  and  their  par- 
ents or  guardians  if  possible,  with  regard  to  (a)  the  oc- 
cupations for  which  the  boys  and  girls  are  suited  by 
ability,  taste,  character,  and  erluration;  (6)  the  further 
educational  courses  which  l)ear  directly  on  these  occu- 
pations; and  (c)  the  opportunities  which  exist  in  the 
various  occupations. 


146        YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

2.  To  prepare  leaflets  and  pamphlets  or  tabulated  matter 
giving  information  to  the  scholars  about  continuation 
work. 

3.  To  keep  a  record  of  all  pupils  who  leave  school;  their 
educational  attainments,  the  employment  they  enter 
upon,  and  their  progress  at  continuation  classes. 

4.  To  send  reports  to  employers  when  desired  as  to  the 
progress  and  attendance  of  the  employees  at  classes. 

5.  To  organize  such  supervision,  as  is  approved  by  the 
Board,  of  boys  and  girls  after  they  have  obtained  em- 
ployment both  in  regard  to  attendance  at  continuation 
classes  and  progress  in  their  industrial  career. 

6.  To  act  as  organizer  of  the  continuation  classes,  and  to 
keep  the  system  of  further  education  in  real  touch  with 
the  industrial  needs  of  the  locality. 

7.  To  report  periodically  on  the  work  of  the  department. 

2.  Duties  of  head  masters 

1.  To  see  that  the  registration  cards  for  pupils  leaving 
school  are  duly  filled  up  and  forwarded  to  the  director. 

2.  To  furnish  such  additional  information  regarding  leav- 
ing pupils  as  may  be  required. 

3.  To  cooperate  with  the  Board  in  their  special  efforts  to 
guide  boys  and  girls  into  the  continuation  classes  as 
soon  as  possible  after  the  temination  of  their  day-school 
career. 

4.  To  arrange  meetings  of  leaving  pupils  and  their  parents 
to  be  addressed  by  the  visiting  members  of  the  Board 
in  the  month  of  November,  or  at  such  other  times  as 
is  found  more  convenient. 

5.  To  address  collectively  before  the  summer  holidays 
the  senior  pupils  on  the  question  of  choice  of  suitable 
occupation  and  early  enrollment  in  continuation  classes. 

6.  To  grant  to  the  parents  of  leaving  pupils  an  interview 
to  discuss  the  future  of  their  children. 

7.  To  give  to  pupils  in  their  last  year  at  every  suitable  op- 
portunity advice  regarding  suitable  employment  and 
education. 


VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  IN  ENGL.\ND    147 

3.  Duties  of  ■parents  and  pupils 

1.  To  give  all  information  required  for  filling  up  the  regis- 
tration cards. 

2.  To  make  api)lication  to  the  head  master  or  director  for 
information  and  guidance. 

3.  Parents  to  see  that  their  children  stay  at  school  until 
suitable  emjiloyment  has  been  obtained. 

4.  To  intimate  to  the  director  particulars  as  to  employ- 
ment when  it  has  been  found. 

5.  Parents  to  see  that  their  children  pass  on  to  continua- 
tion classes  immediately  on  leaving  the  day  school,  and 
remain  in  attendance  until  they  are  eighteen  years  of 
age  at  least. 

-4.  Suggested  action  by  employers 

1.  To  notify  all  vacancies  for  learners  or  apprentices, 
wherever  possil)le,  some  time  in  advance. 

2.  To  furnisli  details  as  to  the  rates  of  wages  and  condi- 
tions of  employment  in  their  respective  trades,  profes- 
sions, or  callings. 

3.  To  apply  for  information  regarding  applicants  for  em- 
ployment. 

4.  To  encourage  attendance  of  employees  at  continuation 
classes  by  one  or  more  of  the  following  methods,  viz. :  — 
(a)  Guarantee  of  fees. 

(6)  Special  rewards. 

(c)  Exemption  from  overtime. 

(d)  Payment  of  extra  wages  to  those  who  reach  a  given 
standard  of  attainment. 

(e)  Opportunities  for  promotion  to  specially  qualified 
pupils. 

(/)  Facilities  to  attend  classes  during  work  hours. 

(g)  Direct  personal  interest  shown  by  periodic  visits  to 
the  continuation  schools. 

(h)  Arranging  meeting  of  workers  to  be  addressed  by 
a  member  of  the  board  and  the  oragnizer  of  con- 
tinuation classes. 

5.  To  offer  suggestions  as  to  the  equii)ment  and  schemes 
of  work  for  trade  and  technical  classes. 


VII 

VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  AND  HEALTH 
GUIDANCE 

In  connection  with  the  schemes  just  discussed,  in- 
formation is  being  collected  about  juvenile  employ- 
ment which  in  time  will  be  of  immense  use  in  further 
protective  legislation.  The  work  of  the  volunteers, 
who  are  getting  both  experience  and  training  in  their 
association  with  the  advisory  committees,  will  in  time 
become  the  nucleus  of  important  movements  for  im- 
proving the  conditions  of  juvenile  employment.  The 
devoted  volunteer  service  is  certain  to  work  out  a 
technique  through  more  definite  schemes  of  prepara- 
tion for  the  important  duties  it  involves.  The  fact 
should  be  borne  in  mind  that  advice,  training,  or  place- 
ment cannot  alone  reform  unsatisfactory  conditions  of 
child  employment.  There  is  much  to  be  said  in  favor 
of  a  labor  exchange,  whether  it  be  for  juveniles  or 
adults.  It  is  certain  social  waste  to  leave  the  labor 
market  unorganized.  From  the  point  of  view  of  the 
child-welfare  worker,  however,  and  of  the  educator, 
the  success  of  a  placement  scheme  lies  not  in  the  in- 
creasing number  of  vacancies  which  are  filled,  but  in 
the  diminishing  of  the  causes  which  send  young  people 
into  premature  or  haphazard  employment.    Working 


HEALTH  GUIDANCE  149 

conditions  are  only  slightly  and  indirectly  afifectcd  by 
the  kindly  su])crvision  of  an  advisory  board. 

It  may  be  that  in  time  certain  labor  exchanges, 
through  exceptionally  powerful  advisory  committees, 
will  control  the  local  labor  supply  to  the  extent  of  com- 
pelling more  favorable  conditions  precedent  to  employ- 
ment, but  this  is  a  long,  uncertain,  and  roundabout 
method. 

Experience  teaches  that  legislative  action  alone  can 
best  cope  effectively  with  so  complex  a  situation.  Even- 
ing industrial  training  for  young  workers  cannot  be  re- 
garded as  more  than  a  temporizing  device.  The  grow- 
ing tendency  in  the  most  advanced  American  school 
systems  is  to  exclude  children  under  seventeen  from 
the  evening  schools.  In  the  minority  report  of  the 
British  Royal  Commission  on  the  Poor-Laws  will  be 
found  several  paragraphs  which  sustain  this  position. 
The  report  states:  — 

Useful  as  evening  continuation  classes  may  be  to  particular 
individuals,  it  is  impossible  for  boys  who  are  exhausted  by  a 
whole  day's  toil  to  obtain  either  physical  training  or  the  nec- 
essary technical  education.  We  have,  therefore,  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  if  we  want  to  turn  into  competent  and  trained 
workmen  the  300.000  boys  who  now  annually  in  the  United 
Kingdom  start  wage-earning  at  something  or  other,  there  is 
only  one  plan.  ^Ye  must  shorten  the  legally  permissible 
hours  of  employment  for  boys,  and  we  must  require  them  to 
spend  the  hours  so  set  free  in  physical  and  technological 
training. 

This  report,  therefore,  recommends:  — 

1.  The  statutory  prohibition  of  the  employment  of  any 
boy  in  any  occupation  below  the  age  of  fifteen. 


150         YOUTH,   SCHOOL,   AND  VOCATION 

2.  The  limitation  of  the  hours  of  employment  of  any  youth 
under  eighteen. 

3.  The  compulsory  attendance  of  boys  between  fifteen 
and  eighteen  at  a  suitable  public  institute,  giving  phys- 
ical training  and  technical  education. 

Every  vocation  scheme  for  the  benefit  of  young 
people  must  inevitably  reach  these  conclusions.  Both 
the  voluntary  principle  and  the  principle  of  benevo- 
lence break  down  or  are  thoroughly  ineffective  when 
confronted  with  the  large  mass  of  children  whose  en- 
ergies and  futures  need  to  be  protected.  Nor  can  ap- 
prenticeship be  regarded  as  a  solution  of  the  juvenile 
employment  problem.  England,  like  America,  is  quite 
in  the  dark  as  to  what  skilled  and  unskilled  occupa- 
tions really  are,  and  consequently  is  little  prepared  to 
formulate  the  kind  of  training  needed.  Moreover, 
there  has  been  during  the  last  half-century  an  ever- 
increasing  demand  for  low-skilled  labor  as  a  substitute 
for  the  hand-worker  employed  before  the  widespread 
application  of  power,  ingenious  machinery,  and  new 
systems  of  operation.  It  is,  of  course,  true  that  the 
right  working-out  of  the  present  labor  registry  and  ad- 
visory plans  must  help  better  working  conditions,  as 
has  been  the  case  in  the  English  post-office  messenger- 
boy  service.  But  the  fact  remains  that  industry  will 
continue  to  use  an  enormous  and  increasing  amount  of 
unskilled  or  partially  skilled  labor,  and  it  is  inevitable 
that  a  large  number  of  young  people,  probably  the 
vast  majority,  will  for  a  long  time  find  their  only  op- 
portunities in  this  field. 


HEALTH  GUIDANCE  151 

The  most  immediate  problem  with  respect  to  these 
children,  then,  is  not  an  extension  of  evening  training 
facilities  so  much  as  it  is  a  thoroughgoing  scheme  of 
protection;  not  the  acquisition  of  manual  skill,  as  it  is 
the  conservation  of  their  physical  and  moral  vitality. 
Industrial  operations  hold  out  diminishing  educative 
I)Ossil)ilities.  In  the  majority  of  occujjations,  indeed, 
there  is  no  place  for  a])i)renticeshii).  Yet  service  to  an 
individual  or  a  group  of  individuals  is  none  the  less  val- 
uable because  it  fails  to  solve  the  problems  of  a  multi- 
tude. Ai)prenticeship  provisions  should  by  all  means 
be  furthered,  but  as  a  general  scheme  for  altering  the 
present  stage  of  non-educative  and  subdivided  em- 
ployments, it  is  an  impossibility.  What  the  schools 
must  ask  of  enii)loyers,  therefore,  in  view  of  industry's 
vanished  educational  responsibility,  is  at  least  a  re- 
vival of  the  spirit  and  the  motive  in  what  was  best  in 
the  old  apprenticeship  system.  The  employer's  con- 
tribution to  this  end  is  made  up  of  two  important  ele- 
ments; he  must  provide  the  leisure,  through  shortened 
workdays,  and  give  his  practical  cocjperation  to  the 
school  authorities,  who  are  bound  to  take  in  hand  the 
drifting  or  overworked  adolescent.  Above  all  else  he 
must  cooperate  in  what  might  be  called  the  health 
guidance  of  the  workers. 

Every  part  of  the  United  Kingdom  has  its  certify- 
ing factory  surgeons,  so  called,  appointed  by  the  chief 
inspector  of  factories.  There  are  altogether  two  thou- 
sand of  these  officers  who  are  frequently  also  medical 


152         YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

oflScers  of  health,  and,  most  unfortunately,  are  paid 
for  the  examination  of  children  by  fees  from  the  em- 
ployers. The  duties  of  the  factory  surgeons,  under  the 
Factory  and  Workshops  Act  of  1901  and  1907,  and  the 
order  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  are :  — 

(a)  To  examine  every  child  or  young  person  under  the  age 
of  sixteen  within  seven  days  (or  thirteen  days  in  the 
rare  cases  where  the  surgeon's  residence  is  more  than 
three  miles  from  the  place  of  work)  of  his  commence- 
ment of  work  in  a  factory  or  in  any  workshop  where 
one  or  more  of  the  following  processes  are  carried  on: 
File-cutting,  carriage-building,  rope-  and  twine-mak- 
ing; brick-  and  tile-making;  making  of  iron  and  steel 
cables,  chains,  anchors,  grapnels,  and  cart-gear;  mak- 
ing of  nails,  screws,  rivets;  baking  bread,  biscuits,  or 
confectionery;  fruit-preserving;  making,  altering,  or- 
namenting, finishing,  or  repairing  wearing  apparel  by 
the  aid  of  the  treadle  sewing-machines. 

(b)  To  make  certain  examinations  and  inquiries  in  con- 
nection with  accidents,  workmen's  compensation 
cases,  and  dangerous  trades. 

It  should  be  noted  that,  under  the  Factory  and 
Workshops  Act,  a  worker  under  the  age  of  sixteen 
must  be  reexamined  each  time  he  changes  his  place  of 
employment.  "Half-timers,"  that  most  pitiful  class 
of  spent  children,  must  also  be  reexamined  when  they 
commence  employment  as  "full-timers."  Something 
like  500,000  examinations  are  made  annually.  In  1910, 
nearly  8500  children  were  rejected  as  being  physically 
unfit  for  employment,  a  suspiciously  small  number. 

In  the  United  Kingdom,  as  in  the  United  States, 
there  has  been  little  intelligent  effort  to  correlate  the 


HEALTH  GUIDANCE  153 

work  of  employment  health  inspection  with  the  social 
and  vocational  needs  of  working  children. 

Cooperation  is  essential  from  every  point  of  view. 
There  is  nothing  to  prevent  the  child  rejected  at  the 
factory  gate  by  the  factory  surgeon  from  obtaining 
employment  in  an  occupation  outside  the  Factory  Act 
and  removed  from  any  legal  scrutiny,  employment 
often  infinitely  more  harmful  physically  than  that 
from  which  he  has  been  rejected.  Because  home  and 
school  figure  so  little  in  the  present  method  of  medical 
factory  inspection,  the  rejected  child  is  frequently  un- 
able to  explain  to  the  parent  the  physician's  reason  for 
rejection.  The  Factory  Act  stipulates  that  a  written 
explanation  of  the  reason  for  rejection  shall  be  given, 
but  this  provision  is  a  dead  letter. 

An  exceptional  illustration  of  the  cooperation  here 
suggested  may  be  found  in  the  efficient  work  of  the 
medical  officer  (school)  for  Dewsbury.  In  this  instance 
there  is  the  fortunate  fact  that  the  medical  officer  is 
also  the  certifying  factory  surgeon,  a  situation  which 
gives  him  the  opportunity  to  see  the  child  in  school 
before  employment,  and  in  the  places  of  employment 
at  the  time  of  being  engaged. 

This  physician  has  made  it  his  business,  wholly  on 
his  own  initiative,  to  notify  the  Dewsbury  advisory 
committee  for  juvenile  employment  of  the  rejections 
made  which  needed  the  attention  of  the  committee. 
The  committee's  secretary  or  some  member  visits  the 
parent  until  the  children  obtain  suitable  employment 


154         YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

or  medical  treatment.  In  addition  to  giving  informa- 
tion of  rejected  cases,  another  group  of  children  is 
also  reported  to  the  advisory  committee.  A  certifying 
factory  surgeon  meets  with  certain  children  who  may 
have  some  defect  which  careful  treatment  can  remedy 
and  thus  prevent  later  and  more  serious  obstacles  to 
passing  a  medical  inspection. 

The  following  table  shows  the  cases  of  all  kinds  re- 
ported by  the  Dewsbury  certifying  factory  surgeon  to 
the  advisory  committee  and  dealt  with  during  the 
year  1911  to  April,  1912:  — 

Cases  notified  as  rejected  from  employment 52 

Cases  where  conditions  have  improved  and  the  children  are  now 

in  suitable  employment 19 

Cases  where  children  have  received  medical  treatment  and  are 

now  in  suitable  employment 31 

Cases  of  children  unfit  for  employment 2 

Cases  of  delicate  children  in  employment  notified 24 

Total  number  of  cases  rejected  and  delicate  visited  and  reported 

on 76 

On  page  155  is  an  interesting  table  of  cases  in  con- 
nection with  the  Dewsbury  work,  interesting  because 
of  the  comments  recorded  on  the  conditional  certifi- 
cates. 

The  Dewsbury  advisory  committee  has  made  an  in- 
vestigation not  only  of  working  children,  but  also  of 
school  children  who  work  out  of  hours,  an  evil  which 
does  not  as  a  rule  come  to  the  notice  of  the  medical  or 
any  other  officers. 

Such  surveys  of  the  range  of  employments  in  which 
children  are  found,  and  of  the  working  hours  of  chil- 


HEALTH  GUIDANCE 


155 


Year 

KcaHon 

Work  aUowe<l 

Work  forbidden 

1908 

1. 

Lateral  curvature  of 
Bpino. 

Attend  loom. 

Not  to  lift  heavy  basketa,  etc 

2. 

Dofoctive  vision. 

Foliling  hlnnkctB. 
Simple  handwork, anfl 

Machine  work. 

1909 

1. 

Defective       viKinn, 

Work  with  machinery. 

lateral  nvf*tn(:inus 

j^enerul  rrrnnd  work 

(coiiKeniJal). 

in     patent  -  glazing 
factory. 

1910 

1. 

Mentally  BOMie%vhat 

Pipcr-hox  making  by 

Anything  to  do  with  cutting 

ihill. 

hiuid. 

or  machinery  of  any  kind. 

2. 

Too  young. 

■Makinvc  firewood  into 
InnulleB. 

Not  to  chop  wood,  work  at 
macliincry,  or  carry  heavy 

weiglitB. 

1)0. 

.'i. 

Sinnll  stature. 

Krrand  boy. 

4. 

1)11, 

Do.  " 

Do. 

11)11 

1. 

Left  knock-knee. 

FrinLrint:   machine,   a.** 
til  if  allowK  Bitting. 

Work  necessitating  prolonged 
standing. 

2. 

Operations  for  her- 
nia voarK  at,'0. 
Small  Htature. 

Ordinary  work. 

No  lifting  or  carrying  weights. 

S. 

Giving  in. 

No   weight    lifting    or    work 

with  machinery  in  motion. 

4. 

Knock-knee. 

Sew  buttons  on  bloufles. 

Not  to  use  mactiincB. 

,% 

Heart  iliwase. 

Do. 

Do. 

1912 

i. 

Suiull  Htature. 

Giving  in. 

Nothing  else  in  connection 
with  weaving. 

2. 

Do 

Winiling. 

Nothing  entailing  overreach- 
ing or  weight  lifting. 

3. 

Post-laparotomy 

Li(.'ht  work  in  cnnnec- 

Prolonged    standing    or    ma- 

scar. 

tii'n  with  printing. 

chine  work. 

dren  whose  energies  are  presumed  to  be  dedicated  to 
the  State  in  the  work  of  growth  and  self-improvement, 
are  suggestive  of  the  possible  disclosures,  once  advisory 
committees,  schools,  and  medical  officers  unite,  as 
they  should,  in  a  comprehensive  policy  of  protecting 
youth.  There  have  been  some  investigations  into  the 
physical  condition  of  working  school  children.  While 
differences  in  the  health  of  such  children  have  been 
found  to  be  dei)cndent  in  part  upon  the  nature  of  the 
occupation,  the  strain,  confinement,  etc.,  all  this  evi- 
dence points  to  a  too  early  beginning  of  work  as  a  prime 
source  of  breakdowTi  and  later  incapacity. 

The  relation  of  medical  supervision  to  the  right  start 
in  vocation  is  clear  enough.  Inspection  at  the  leaving 
stage  is  indispensable.  All  vocational  counseling,  labor 
exchange  service,  and  after-care  work  must  take  their 


156        YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

cue  from  the  physician's  report.  Examination  at  this 
stage  reveals  the  results  of  school  life,  home  environ- 
ment, incidental  employment,  and  the  heredity  prob- 
lems of  the  work-beginners.  At  no  other  period  in  a 
youth's  life  is  medical  supervision  more  necessary,  and 
from  a  public  point  of  view  more  urgent.  The  prevail- 
ing practice  in  the  countries  discussed,  as  with  our  own, 
shows  a  too  slight  regard  for  this  vital  matter.  The 
whole  scheme  of  factory  legislation,  in  general,  rests  on 
insecure  foundations  if  the  medical  super\asion  of  ado- 
lescent workers  is  inefficient.  Medical  investigations  in 
England  have  shown  that  physically  unfit  children  are 
liable  to  a  high  degree  of  accident  in  the  course  of  their 
work.  An  intrinsic  value  in  medical  supervision,  from 
the  employer's  point  of  view,  is  that  it  supplies  a 
proper  method  of  individual  selection  of  workers. 

What  may  yet  be  accepted  as  a  necessity  in  the 
English  scheme  of  vocational  assistance  is  the  appoint- 
ment of  special  medical  officers  for  advisory  commit- 
tees, who  shall  act  in  a  coordinate  capacity  with  the 
school  medical  officer  and  the  factory  surgeon.  These 
medical  advisers  would  probably  be  assigned  to  work 
in  connection  with  all  the  various  types  of  schools, 
such  as  evening  schools  and  trade  schools,  and  with 
the  children  who  use  the  labor  exchanges. 

Inspection  at  the  place  or  time  of  employment  goes 
only  part  way.  The  child-helping  schemes,  so  exten- 
sive throughout  England  and  Scotland,  need  above  all 
else  the  reenforcement  of  a  medical  department  with 


HEALTH  GUIDANCE  157 

full  powers  to  investigate  occupations  in  their  relation 
to  a  sound  physical  development.  A  school  system 
whose  medical  inspection  is  perfunctory,  and  whose 
methods  of  granting  work  certificates  are  not  thor- 
oughly integrated  with  all  its  vocational  efforts,  can 
hardly  be  pronounced  as  efficiently  organized  or  capa- 
ble of  doing  good  guidance  service.  The  absence  of 
medical  research  and  health  guidance  provisions  in 
almost  all  vocational-help  enterprises,  abroad  and  in 
our  own  country,  is  responsible  for  much  of  their 
ineffectiveness. 


VIII 

THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  START  IN  LIFE 

i  Every  experienced  teacher  and  social  worker  knows 
that,  however  valuable  the  impersonal  collecting  of 
social  data  may  be,  the  power  for  most  effective 
human  service  comes  only  from  a  union  of  scientific 
method  and  personal  contact  with  the  problems  of  in- 
dividuals. To  the  methods  of  technical  research  we 
owe  those  tools  for  thorough  work  not  possible  to  those 
who  rely  on  kindly  impulses  alone.  For  their  sound 
advance,  the  fields  of  vocational  guidance  and  training 
require  much  more  expert  research  than  has  as  yet 
been  devoted  to  them.  Yet  that  blend  of  science  and 
creative  sympathy  which  we  find  in  the  work  of  all 
true  educators  may  be  said  finally  to  be  the  most  pre- 
cious element  in  human  service;  in  thorough  "case- 
work," combined  with  genuinely  close  relationships, 
may  we  hope  to  find  the  clue  to  sound  social  and  edu- 
cational policy. 

There  is  no  difficulty  in  understanding  the  pressure 
from  the  side  of  the  employer,  and  of  many  schools 
also,  for  a  vocational-guidance  scheme  which  looks 
mainly  to  the  immediate  needs  of  children  who  must 
or  do  leave  for  work.  Not  unreasonable,  moreover,  is 
the  occasional  intimation  that  vocational  guidance 
without  active  provisions  for  employment  is  at  best  in- 


THE  START  IN  LIFE  159 

complete.  To  some  people,  indeed,  the  placement  fea- 
tures of  vocational  guidance  are  alone  i)ractical,  while 
the  efforts  looking  to  a  reorganization  of  school  and 
vocational  opportunity  in  terms  of  career- values, 
which  may  be  said  to  be  the  mainspring  of  the  voca- 
tional-guidance movement,  appear  to  them  as  a  com- 
mendable though  rather  remote  ideal. 

The  truth  is,  however,  that  vocational  guidance 
does  concern  itself  with  all  the  problems  of  work-get- 
ting, with  helping  children  to  a  start  in  life  in  a  way 
less  wasteful  than  the  present,  and  with  active  super- 
vision of  youth's  vocational  skirmishes. 

This  chapter  will  attempt  to  suggest  a  policy  for 
the  relation  of  schools  to  the  start  in  life  of  their  chil- 
dren, profiting  so  far  as  possible  by  the  lessons  and 
cautions  of  both  American  and  foreign  experience.  In 
the  absence  thus  far  in  this  country  of  any  consider- 
able progress  in  connecting  school  with  employment, 
it  is,  of  course,  obvious  that  little  more  than  a  tenta- 
tive outline  of  a  policy  and  of  the  possible  next  steps 
can  be  ventured;  yet  for  all  that  later  actual  experi- 
ence may  suggest  in  the  way  of  detail,  there  are  certain 
principles  fundamental  to  any  service  connected  >Aath 
the  start  in  life.  All  social  workers,  educators  who 
make  their  school  work  function  as  social  service,  and 
efficient  workers  connected  with  the  movements  for 
vocational  guidance  and  education,  are  in  no  doubt  as 
to  the  need  of  taking  the  next  steps  and  as  to  what  at 
least  some  of  these  steps  should  be. 


160        YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

To  students  of  the  problem  considered  here,  then,  it 
is  clear  that  a  thorough  scheme  of  vocational  advising 
and  of  training  necessarily  involves  provisions  for 
work-finding,  for  work  supervision,  and  for  investiga- 
tions which  yield  material  for  enlightening  public 
opinion  and  furthering  legislative  action.  Vocational 
service  of  any  kind  is  so  large  an  undertaking  that 
specialized  phases  of  it  may  well  occupy  the  time  of 
any  organization,  but  it  is  submitted  that  any  scheme 
of  vocational  service  which  does  not  in  some  way  come 
in  direct  contact  with  the  problems  connected  with  the 
actual  start  in  life  of  youth  is  in  danger  of  finding  it- 
self an  unreal  undertaking,  busied  with  lifeless  ab- 
stractions regarding  shado^\'y  beings,  instead  of  live 
men  and  women  and  children. 

Workers  in  the  fields  of  vocational  education  and 
guidance,  therefore,  whether  they  be  in  vocational 
schools,  labor  exchanges,  advisory  committees,  or  vo- 
cational-guidance enterprises,  are  expected  to  face 
their  task  from  two  standpoints  when  helping  young 
people  to  a  start  in  life.  They  are  forced,  necessarily, 
to  deal  with  the  working  world  as  they  find  it,  and  they 
are  equally  obligated  to  illumine  their  work  with  an 
ideal  of  what  ought  to  be  the  conditions.  A  knowledge 
of  existing  conditions  is  the  foundation  of  the  daily, 
personal  service  which  a  vocational  agency  is  called 
upon  to  render;  but  without  the  corrective  of  a  social 
vision  any  vocational  scheme,  whatever  may  be  its 
immediate  practical  benefits,  can  hardly  be  regarded 


THE  START  IN  LIFE  161 

as  an  important  instrument  of  human  conservation. 
The  knowledge  here  suggested  is  not  that  based  on 
mere  fragmentary  accumulation  of  many  kinds  of  oc- 
cupational details,  gathered  in  the  glimpses  of  a  visit 
or  even  many  visits  to  work-places;  it  must  be  knowl- 
edge founded  on  data  organized  by  the  specialist 
trained  in  the  technique  of  vocational  investigation. 
The  vision  and  ideal  here  suggested  are  not  a  vague 
and  futile  longing  for  something  different,  but  an  in- 
telligent purpose  founded  on  clear  sight  of  a  goal,  and 
expressing  itself  in  aggressive  and  telling  ways. 

We  have  seen  that  school  life  is  sharply  ended  at  the 
option  of  children  who  go  to  work  as  soon  as  the  law 
will  let  them.  Likewise  is  it  clear  that  this  leaving 
time  has  been  socially  neglected  and  the  children  ex- 
posed to  peculiar  dangers.  The  child's  entry  into  work- 
ing life  has  not  been  generally  looked  upon  as  a  special 
concern  of  the  school.  Individual  teachers  and  school 
principals  have  always,  doubtless,  taken  a  lively  inter- 
est in  the  work  careers  of  individual  children  or  even 
of  classes.  But  outside  a  few  cities  in  this  country,  one 
will  not  find  any  systematic  effort  to  compile  and  in- 
terpret the  work  histories  of  children  who  have  left 
school  for  employment;  and  few  indeed  are  the  agen- 
cies which  concern  themselves  actively  with  the  transi- 
tion problems  of  youth  in  the  abyss  between  school 
and  work.  There  are,  to  be  sure,  the  vocational  schools 
and  vocational  departments  of  our  high  schools,  which, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  are  more  or  less  engaged  in  se- 


162        YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

curing  employment  for  those  whom  they  have  trained. 
Not  even  these  schools,  for  the  most  part,  have  gone 
beyond  the  mere  placement  stage  for  their  pupils,  and 
not  many  have  scrutinized  the  occupations  sufficiently 
to  influence  their  own  curriculum.  But  if  the  voca- 
tional schools,  close  to  work  conditions  though  they 
presumably  are,  and  more  pressingly  required  than 
other  types  of  schools  to  concern  themselves  with  the 
start  in  life,  have,  on  the  whole,  so  little  organized  the 
machinery  and  formulated  the  principles  of  service  in 
helping  young  people  during  the  transition  period, 
what  shall  we  say  as  to  the  public  schools  generally? 

The  children  who  leave  the  schools,  whether  they 
graduate  or  drop  out,  are  obliged  to  find  themselves, 
somehow  or  other,  as  workers.  The  schools  have  done 
little,  specifically,  to  point  the  way.  In  a  sense  the 
schools  deserve  much  praise  for  the  little  they  have 
been  doing  toward  a  vocational  start  in  life;  for  with 
no  resources,  time,  or  preparation  their  efforts  in  this 
difficult  field  could  only  have  been  absurdly  inade- 
quate and  possibly  harmful.  Several  causes  account 
for  the  failure  on  the  part  of  the  public  to  support  the 
schools  in  organizing  the  much  needed  start-in-life 
service.  In  the  first  place,  the  schools  have  been  kept 
so  busy  with  what  is  called  preparing  for  life  that  the 
teachers  have  been  given  no  opportunity  for  more  ac- 
tive contact  with  that  life.  The  American  public  has 
not  called  too  vigorously  for  such  vital  participation 
on  the  part  of  the  teachers.   In  fact,  the  situation  thus 


THE  START  IN  LIFE  1G3 

far  has  not  been  greatly  encouraging  to  that  growing 
number  of  teachers  who  are  disiieartened  over  much  of 
the  present  Hfeless  routine  of  fitting  for  life.  Society 
has  been  unaware  of  the  moral  hazards  and  the  hard 
perplexities  which  the  young  job-seeker  experiences. 
Finally,  a  persisting  idea  looks  upon  work-seeking  and 
employment  as  a  private  concern  of  the  individual, 
and  the  employment  bargain  and  all  that  follows  it  as 
nothing  more  than  the  personal  affair  of  the  bargaining 
parties. 

Now,  our  best  practice  and  conviction  continually 
belie  this  outworn  notion.  That  society  does  feel  a 
vital  stake  in  all  that  attaches  to  the  employment  con- 
tract, particularly  of  minors,  is  demonstrated  by  the 
great  variety  of  protective  measures  going  forward, 
such  as  school  and  work  certificates,  vocation  bureaus, 
health  and  factory  inspection,  licensing  rules  for  em- 
ployment agencies,  and  the  increasing  number  of  child- 
labor  laws  and  of  state-aided  vocational-training  op- 
portunities. 

The  English  system  of  juvenile  advisory  committees 
rests  on  a  clear  recognition  of  society's  duty  to  protect 
and  befriend  its  young  work-beginners.  The  increas- 
ing importance  of  school  people  in  the  work  of  these 
committees  is  suggestive  of  the  place  which  the  schools 
will  occupy  in  the  near  future  as  guardians  of  the  ado- 
lescent. 

From  two  directions  the  schools  are  compelled  more 
and  more  to  consider  their  relations  to  the  start  in  vo- 


164        YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

cation.  On  the  one  hand,  the  movements  for  voca- 
tional training  and  guidance  bring  the  school  face  to 
face  with  the  occupational  world;  on  the  other,  the  or- 
ganization of  the  labor  market  through  public  employ- 
ment offices,  a  field  in  which  we  have  been  thus  far 
backward,  will  oblige  the  schools  to  work  out  a  policy 
with  respect  to  these  agencies.  As  yet  few  States  main- 
tain public  employment  offices;  but,  doubtless,  there 
will  be  many  more  as  the  wastefulness  of  present  work- 
seeking  methods  is  realized.  Yet  even  then  not  many 
schools  will  be  satisfied  merely  to  refer  their  leaving 
children  to  a  near-by  public  employment  office,  with 
no  voice,  oversight,  or  power  as  regards  its  manage- 
ment. 

To  a  marked  degree  the  success  of  vocational  guid- 
ance and  training  efforts  is  conditioned  by  the  thor- 
oughness of  their  articulation  with  working  conditions 
and  with  social  movements.    Within  a  well-defined 
sphere  of  its  own  in  the  school  system,  vocational 
service  is  of  the  utmost  value.    It  endeavors  to  help 
\\  [      pupils  to  self-knowledge,  and  to  reconstruct  school 
\    programs  in  order  that  they  may  more  sensitively 
minister  to  the  self-discovery  and  economic  needs  of 
different  pupils.    Vocational  service  —  both  guidance 
/      and  training  are  here  included  —  is  an  instrument  for 
'       talent  saving,  and  for  interpreting  school  life  in  terms 
of  career  values.    In  its  larger  relationships,  however, 
vocational  help  is  only  one  phase  of  the  social  organi- 
zation of  school   and   vocation.    It   introduces   into 


THE   START  IN   LIFE  10.5 

education  the  motive  of  the  life-career  and  the  idea 
of  fitness  of  the  individual,  apart  from  class  or  grouj); 
it  introduces  into  employment  the  idea  of  fitness  of 
the  task,  and  appraises  the  occupations  in  terms  of 
career  prospects  as  well  as  social  worth. 

The  passing  of  the  Labor  Exchanges  Act  in  Great 
Britain  was  facilitated  by  the  belief  that  a  personal  ad- 
visory service  in  connection  with  work-seeking  would 
helj)  lessen  the  waste  due  both  to  aimless  job-hunting 
and  to  misemi)loymcnt.  No  little  addition  to  the  vol- 
ume of  unemployment  comes  from  what  Mr.  W.  H. 
Beveridge,  Director  of  the  Labor  Exchanges,  calls 
"qualitative  maladjustment."  No  more  promising 
agency  than  the  public  school  exists  to  undertake  the 
task  of  qualitative  vocational  adjustment.  The  ques- 
tion, then,  arises  as  to  whether  the  public-school  sys- 
tem would  best  undertake  alone  to  deal  with  the  start 
in  vocation  or  leave  it  to  other  agencies,  while  reserv- 
ing for  itself  the  task  of  providing  for  needs  which 
arise  in  the  course  of  employment,  such  as  further 
training  opportunities.  It  is  submitted  that  the  schools 
will  have  to  concern  themselves,  actively  and  domi- 
nantly,  with  every  phase  of  the  vocational  start  in 
life. 

Is  the  average  school  system  ready  to  undertake 
this  new  and  enormously  difficult  business?  It  is  not. 
Indeed,  so  little  is  it  prepared  to  do  this  work  at  the 
present  time  that  a  hasty  undertaking  of  it  would  ])rob- 
ably  indicate  a  lack  of  understanding.  It  is  doubtful,  in 


166         YOUTH,   SCHOOL,   AND  VOCATION 

the  first  place,  if  a  school  department  can  alone  effec- 
tively organize  the  lal)or  market  for  young  workers. 
The  pronouncements  on  this  subject  by  Scotch  and 
English  authorities  are  convincing.  On  the  whole,  ex- 
perience seems  to  support  the  proposition  that  the 
school  system  should  not  attempt  the  organization 
of  the  labor  market  for  the  young,  and  the  correl- 
ative proposition  that  the  carrying-on  of  juvenile 
employment  agencies,  without  some  control  over 
them  by  the  school,  is  not  in  the  best  interests  of  the 
children. 

It  is  assumed  that  work-seeking  in  this  country  will 
more  and  more  come  under  the  direction  of  public 
agencies;  for  we  are  almost  the  only  advanced  indus- 
trial country  to  tolerate  the  present  demoralizing 
chaos  of  an  unorganized  labor  market.  Public  labor 
bureaus,  when  rightly  managed  and  understood,  are 
capable  of  considerably  larger  services  than  labor  reg- 
istration, important  though  this  is.  Developments  in 
the  best  of  these  bureaus  in  England  and  in  Germany 
foreshadow  a  new  type  of  ci\ac  center  and  instrument 
for  industrial  betterment.  Everywhere,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  best  practice  is  to  separate  the  juvenile  from 
the  adult  departments  of  these  bureaus,  and  the  girls' 
from  the  boys'  departments.  More  and  more  the  young 
work-seekers'  problems  are  coming  to  be  treated  as 
something  distinctly  different  from  those  of  adults. 
We  are  confronted,  then,  with  the  need  of  organiz- 
ing employment  provisions  for  the  young,  and,  in  con- 


THE  START  IN  LIFE  107 

ncction  with  such  provisions,  formulating  a  policy  of 
social  and  educational  protection. 

The  public  school  must  remember  the  fact  that  it  is, 
j)rimarily,  an  educational  institution  with  social  aims. 
What  a  century  of  child-welfare  effort  and  experience 
has  taught  the  friends  of  working  ciiildrcn,  the  schools 
least  of  all  can  afford  to  ignore.  More  than  any  other 
institution,  the  school  must  stand  for  a  high  minimum 
of  protection  for  all  children.  It  is  not  to  the  credit  of 
our  schools  that,  in  a  large  measure,  they  have  been 
unaware  of  a  situation  which  many  an  employer  has 
known  for  some  time,  and  this  is,  the  economic  useless- 
ness  of  children  from  fourteen  to  sixteen.  Schools  have 
sometimes  been  willing  to  plunge  into  small  or  large 
employment  schemes  as  if  full-time  work  could  be  right 
for  growing  children. 

Of  the  public  schools,  more  than  of  any  other  insti- 
tution, i)ublic  or  private,  we  have  the  right  to  expect  a 
clear  vision  and  a  determined  stand  with  respect  to  the 
unbargainable  interests  of  childhood  and  youth.  Pri- 
vate societies  may,  by  way  of  ex])eriment,  make  con- 
cessions and  compromises  in  order  to  carry  out  their 
various  purposes,  but  in  the  practice  of  the  public- 
school  system  we  look  for  demonstration  of  the  perma- 
nent principles  which  should  control  the  vocational 
world  in  which  young  people  find  themselves. 

There  are  three  distinct  aspects  of  the  problem  of 
adolescent  employment  —  the  educational,  economic, 
and  social.   Through  extension  of  vocational-training 


1G8         YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

opportunities,  and  especially  through  the  provision 
for  prevocational  schools,  —  which,  when  their  pur- 
poses are  better  understood,  will  become  self-discovery 
schools,  and  as  such  afford  young  people  and  their 
teachers  a  most  important  basis  for  vocational  guid- 
ance, —  the  schools  are  beginning  to  deal  with  the 
first  of  the  three  aspects  named. 

As  public  labor  offices  grow  in  number,  the  economic 
side  of  the  problem  will  be  given  at  least  a  preliminary 
treatment.  This  will  not  be  more  than  preliminary, 
however,  for  a  juvenile  employment  department  is, 
notwithstanding  general  opinion,  a  placement  instru- 
ment only  incidentally.  In  facing  the  third  or  social 
aspect  of  the  entire  problem  we  find  the  clue  for  satis- 
factory organization. 

This  proposed  social  basis  for  juvenile  labor  organi- 
zation is  intended  not  so  much  to  protect  the  boy 
worker  or  girl  worker  against  employers  as  against 
themselves.  The  great  difficulty  in  dealing  with  the 
boy  who  is  about  to  leave  school  for  work  lies  in  the 
fact  that  he  regards  himself  as  a  worker  who  has  out- 
grown the  learner.  Not  until  disastrous  experience  has 
overtaken  many  of  these  children  do  they  begin  to 
realize  how  much  a  learning  attitude  would  have 
meant  in  making  a  career.  A  large  part  of  this  diffi- 
culty is  due  to  leaving  the  question  of  the  boy's  fu- 
ture unconsidered  until  school-leaving  time. 

As  we  do  things  piecemeal  in  this  country,  we  are 
likely  to  find  in  a  number  of  places  a  vocation  bureau 


THE  START   IN   LIFE  1G9 

in  the  school,  with  perhaps  a  number  of  vocational- 
training  classes;  a  separate  enajjloyment  bureau  of  the 
city  or  State  to  which  boys  are  sent  or  drift;  and  per- 
haps a  detached  private  or  semi-public  advisory  body 
with  no  real  power,  —  all  making  futile  efforts  to  as- 
sist the  troubled  children.  If  we  are  to  do  this  work  of 
relating  school  to  employment  as  it  should  be  done, 
we  must  provide,  in  the  law  establishing  la])or  offices, 
for  a  separate  juvenile  department,  managed  by  an 
independent  executive  committee  appointed  by  the 
school  system,  which  committee  shall  be  made  up  of 
school  people,  employers,  social  workers,  and  employ- 
ees, to  advise  as  to  the  school  vocational  guidance  and 
training  activities,  on  the  one  hand,  and  manage  the 
occupational  research  and  placement  supervision  ac- 
tivities of  the  labor  bureau,  on  the  other.  This  com- 
mittee should  be  empowered  through  health  officers 
and  other  trained  specialists,  to  examine  working  chil- 
dren ;  to  take  them  out  of  work-places,  if  need  be ;  and 
through  scientific  investigations  to  list  occupations 
from  the  point  of  view  of  opportunity  as  well  as  their 
manifold  influences  upon  the  worker.  Children  under 
sixteen  should  be  under  training,  part-time  at  least, 
until  the  public  is  ready  properly  to  care  for  their 
entire  fourteen-  to  sixteen-year  period. 

From  what  has  been  said  regarding  the  duties  of  a 
juvenile  employment  agency,  with  its  suggested  two- 
fold powers,  —  namely,  close  supervision  of  the  voca- 
tional activities  of  the  school  system  and  control  over 


170        YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

placement  and  its  associated  features,  —  it  is  clear 
that  "employment  agency"  is  a  misnomer.  Perhaps  a 
better  name  for  such  a  body  and  agency  would  be  the 
"vocational  help  bureau."  Service,  coordinated  with 
the  work  of  all  existing  upbuilding  agencies,  is  indeed 
the  main  business  of  an  employment  office  for  minors. 
There  are  problems  connected  with  such  employment 
of  the  greatest  importance  to  the  public,  and  on  these 
we  have  as  yet  little  or  no  information.  These  are  the 
amount  of  juvenile  underemployment,  misemploy- 
ment,  and  unemployment;  the  causes  of  maladjust- 
ment, and  how  far  training,  and  what  kind  of  training, 
can  lessen  these  causes;  and  what  the  occupations  in 
their  thoroughly  analyzed  requirements  mean  to  the 
workers  and  society.  To  enlighten  the  public  as  to 
these  matters  and  secure  such  constructive  legislation 
as  may  be  necessary  is,  perhaps,  the  most  far-reaching 
work  which  such  a  bureau  can  do. 

It  is  not  hard  to  conceive  that  such  a  public  enter- 
prise, organically  connected  with  the  schools,  which 
combines  help  to  groping  youth  with  social  planning, 
must  in  time  influence  both  school  and  occupation  so 
that  both  will  work  together  to  safeguard,  strengthen, 
equip,  and  inspire  boys  and  girls  for  their  appropri- 
ate work  to  an  extent  nowhere  as  yet  realized. 


IX 


THE   SOCIAL   GAIN   THROUGH   VOCATIONAL 
GUIDANCE 

The  vocational-f^uidaiice  movement  belongs  to  those 
efforts  of  our  time  making  for  the  enhancement  of  in- 
dividual and  social  life.  Community  of  action  has  be- 
come more  easy;  social  insight  and  the  will  to  serve 
have  increased.  The  movement  for  husbanding  the 
serving  powers  of  youth  is  a  practical  expression  of  the 
deeper  motives  underlying  the  conservation  projects 
of  our  day. 

Closer  contact  with  the  life  of  the  struggling  and 
revelations  of  their  capacity  for  better  vocational  pur- 
poses than  many  now  serve,  strengthen  the  conviction 
that  the  field  of  emi)loyment  in  even  its  humblest  as- 
pect will  not  long  remain  untouched  by  the  reconstruc- 
tive hand  of  our  generation.  Perhaps  a  deeper  dis- 
cernment will  disclose  the  "one  talent  which  is  death 
to  hide"  as  the  possession  of  even  the  lowliest,  and  we 
shall  no  longer  find  contentment  in  a  quiescent  pity 
for  the  unsuccessful  by  the  fulsome  bestowal  of  honors 
on  those  who  have  won  out.  It  is  lack  of  imagination 
to  accept  our  waste  of  human  material  as  necessary  to 
the  cultivation  of  the  captains  and  leaders  of  men.  A 
truer  understanding  of  human  j)ossibilities  refutes  this 
elemental  notion. 


172         YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

Nearly  every  profession  to-day  represents  an  evolu- 
tion from  a  stage  of  crudeness  and  social  disesteem. 
But  those  who  entered  them  with  vision  and  edu- 
cational purpose  helped  to  create  professions  out  of 
what  seemed  unpromising  callings.  The  common  voca- 
tions are  undergoing  profound  changes.  New  ideals 
of  their  functions  are  prophetic  of  the  demands  they 
will  make  upon  their  future  practitioners.  The  new 
opportunities  belong  to  those  who  can  apprehend  the 
changing  situation. 

Preventive  medicine  offers  departments  of  service 
as  varied  as  society  itself,  and  specialists  in  social 
health  will  find  modern  life  eager  for  their  ministra- 
tions. The  profession  of  law,  conservative  though  it  be, 
is  calling  for  the  lawyer  with  intelligence  for  construc- 
tive social  legislation  and  the  skill  to  formulate  ade- 
quate legal  principles  for  vexed  industrial  relations; 
the  architect  and  the  builder  are  needed  in  housing 
solutions  for  modern  urban  congestion;  and  the  real- 
estate  operator  and  the  transportation  expert  are 
called  upon  to  contribute  their  foresight  and  their 
skill  to  the  working-out  of  city  plans.  Whatever  over- 
crowding there  may  be  in  the  conventional  grooves  of 
the  vocations,  none  has  as  yet  taken  place  in  their  lat- 
est and  socialized  form.  It  is  the  privilege  of  the  vo- 
cational counselor  to  watch  for  these  new  outlets  in 
vocational  service,  and  to  guide  the  fit  into  promising 
avenues  of  usefulness. 

A  young  Bohemian,  an  undergraduate  in  a  large  uni- 


THE  SOCIAL  GAIN  173 

versity,  was  preparing  himself  for  the  law.  Ilis  father 
is  a  Pennsylvania  coal-miner,  and  during  the  summer 
the  young  man  helped  him  in  the  colliery,  earning 
enough  in  that  way  to  pay  for  his  board  and  tuition 
during  the  college  year.  He  came  to  the  Vocation  Bu- 
reau of  Boston  with  questions  as  to  what  prosi)ects 
for  successful  practice  among  Americans  a  young  for- 
eigner like  himself  could  expect.  It  was  clear  that  this 
intelligent  and  energetic  young  man  would  get  along, 
and  he  was  reassured  on  this  point,  but  it  seemed  im- 
portant to  remind  him  that  very  few  of  his  nationality 
had  achieved  the  advantages  of  life  in  a  great  New 
England  university,  that  his  people  had  few  repre- 
sentatives, indeed,  who  could  interpret  them  to  Ameri- 
cans and  America  to  them,  and  that  his  largest  success 
as  a  well-trained  lawyer  would  lie,  not  in  detaching 
himself  from  his  own,  but  in  serving  both  them  and 
the  Americans  in  the  opportunities  that  would  surely 
be  his. 

Signs  are  not  wanting  in  the  liberal  professions,  in 
manufacturing,  in  business,  and,  indeed,  in  most  occu- 
pations, of  a  growing  band  of  practical  idealists  who 
conceive  their  pursuits  in  terms  of  community  service 
as  well  as  of  livelihood.  They  are  giving  new  life  to  old 
callings  and  are  stimulating  the  youth  of  our  land  to 
new  measurements  of  achievement. 

We  have  been  for  so  long  awed  by  the  wonderful  sub- 
division and  specialization  in  the  vocations  that  we 
have  forgotten  the  most  impressive  fact  about  them. 


174         YOUTH,   SCHOOL,   AND  VOCATION 

This  is  their  social  interdependence.  As  we  become 
more  sensitive  to  social  organization,  we  perceive  how 
superficial  is  the  barrier  of  vocation.  The  scientific 
classification  of  flowers  and  trees  does  not  make  nature 
less  an  organic  whole.  So  the  promotion  of  special 
schools  and  training  courses  for  the  development  of 
skill  in  particular  vocations  cannot  make  less  real  the 
fraternity  of  workers.  Zones  of  influence  and  conse- 
quences reach  far  beyond  the  view  of  the  individual 
worker  who  causes  them.  A  fundamental  value  in  vo- 
cational training  and  guidance  is  the  sense  it  brings 
to  the  student  of  his  relationships.  We  pursue  our  call- 
ings in  forgetfulness  of  the  essential  "team  play"  in 
working  life,  and  the  vocational  guidance  which  brings 
to  light  one's  interplay  of  work  with  that  of  his  fellows 
contributes  toward  lifting  the  daily  stint  above  the 
commonplace. 

The  demand  upon  the  vocations  each  for  its  dis- 
tinctive social  contribution  carries  with  it  a  corre- 
sponding ideal  for  the  vocational  career  as  a  whole.  We 
have  been  proceeding  on  an  unsound  assumption  that 
for  the  many  the  dynamic  period  of  youthful  growth 
is  intended  for  a  static  period  of  struggle  for  the  daily 
bread.  The  young  worker's  pathetic  snatches  at 
growth  throughout  long  days  of  drudgery,  his  surrepti- 
tious reading  of  a  book  at  the  bench,  the  day-dreaming 
and  the  craving  for  self-realization,  the  petty  infraction 
of  rules,  continually  illuminate  the  resistance  of  young 
human  nature  against  the  prospect  of  stagnation. 


THE  SOCIAL  G.VIN  175 

Only  a  conception  of  working  life  as  continuing  edu- 
cation can  appease  the  God-given  hungers  of  youth. 
This  is  not  fancy.  We  find  successful  business  houses 
})roud  of  the  types  of  men  and  women  they  develop  by 
the  educational  opportunities  they  afford  their  emjjloy- 
ees,  and  this  not  as  charity  but  as  fundamental  good 
business.  Developing  the  intelligence  of  the  employees 
and  satisfying  their  instinct  for  educational  exi)eri- 
ence  in  the  work  they  are  doing  has  become  the  self- 
assumed  duty  of  the  most  enlightened  emi)loyers.  The 
socially  imaginative  business  man,  manufacturer,  and 
professional  man  are  joining  hands  with  the  progres- 
sive educator  in  the  call  for  more  educational  returns 
from  the  wage-earning  career. 

Of  what  use  are  the  sacriiSces  made  in  the  training 
and  guidance  of  youth  if  the  subsequent  conditions  of 
employment  nullify  their  influence?  The  fitting  of 
youth  for  appropriate  life-pursuits  cannot  proceed 
without  a  corresponding  fitness  on  the  part  of  the  oc- 
cupations themselves.  The  readjustments  in  educa- 
tion will  have  to  go  hand  in  hand  with  like  readjust- 
ments in  the  avenues  of  occupation.  Work  and  school 
cannot  be  safely  kept  apart  in  a  democracy.  Each  has 
a  vital  meaning  to  the  other,  and  they  must  share  in 
common  the  burden  of  fitting  the  coming  generation 
for  its  best  achievements.  Alike  they  must  share  this 
vision  and  this  purpose,  or  else  vocational  chaos  will 
continue  its  disastrous  course. 

Society  i)ours  its  youthful  blood  into  the  world  of 


176         YOUTH,  SCHOOL,  AND  VOCATION 

wage-earning,  and  in  return  it  asks  cooperation  in  pro- 
tecting its  most  precious  assets.  There  can  be  no 
question  that  working  life  under  proper  conditions  is 
youth's  best  discipline.  The  demand  upon  the  voca- 
tions for  social  cooperation  is  not  made  in  a  spirit  un- 
appreciative  of  their  character-building  possibilities. 
Rather  is  this  social  challenge  to  the  occupations  a  full 
recognition  of  the  community's  loss  in  the  present 
abyss  between  making  a  living  and  making  a  life. 

To  these  socially  efficient  ideals,  therefore,  —  the 
enriching  of  school  life  with  vocational  purpose  and 
the  enriching  of  working  life  with  educational  purpose, 
—  the  vocational-guidance  movement  addresses  itself. 
Education,  the  professions,  industry,  and  commerce 
all  belong  to  our  children.  To  conserve  their  inlieri- 
tance  and  to  lift  them  to  their  future  opportunities, 
the  friends  of  the  vocational-guidance  movement  join 
those  who  labor  for  youth  and  a  sound  citizenship. 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 


The  purpose  of  this  section  is  to  present  schedules  used  by  voca- 
tion bureaus  and  committees,  questionnaires,  outlines  of  voca- 
tional talks,  and  specimens  of  other  material  of  special  interest  to 
students  of  vocational  guidance. 

I.  Schedules  and  Questionnaires 

Schedules  used  by  the  Vocation  Bureau  of  Cincinnati  179-187 
Schedule  used  in  the  Evening  School  Inquiry  by  the 
Committee  on  Women's  Work,  Russell  Sage  Founda- 
tion        188 

Schedule  used  by  the  Committee  on  Vocational  Scholar- 
ships, Henry  Street  Settlement,  New  York  .     .  190,  191 
Schedules  used  for  vocational  guidance  by  the  Boston 

Public  Schools 192-197 

Schedules  used  in  vocational  guidance  investigations  for 

the  New  York  City  Administration,  in  1915,  under 

the  direction  of  the  Vocation  Bureau  of  Boston    198-202 

Points  for  discussion  used  in  a  series  of  conferences  with 

New  York  school  officials  by  the  Vocation  Bureau  of 

Boston 203,  204 

Questionnaire  for  High-School  Pupils,  Somerville,  Mas- 
sachusetts    205 

II.  Record  of  a  Boston  School  Vocational  Counselor  207 
III.  Specimens  of  Talks  given  before  the  Boston  Voca- 
tional Counselors 
The  Educational  Side  of  the  Shoe  Industry      .       .       .  217 
Lunch-Room  and  Restaurant  Work  for  Young  Women  220 
The  Opportunity  of  the  High-School  Student  in  Lunch- 
Room  and  Restaurant  Work 225 

Electrical  Engineering 228 

The  Building  Trades 234 

The  Profession  of  the  Architect 238 

Trained  Nursing 241 

IV.  Example  of  Occupational  Study  for  the  Use  of  the 
London  Jltvenile  Labor  Exchanges 
Report  on  Inquiry  into  Conditions  of  Juvenile  Employ- 
ment in  Steam  Laundries  in  London       ....  244 
V.   Material  used    for    Vocational    Guidance  by  the 
Grand    Rapids,    Michigan,  Junior    and    Senior 
High  Schools 
Vocational  Guidance  Work,  Grand  Rapids  Junior  and 
Senior  High  Schools:  — 

Seventh  and  Eighth  Grades 255 

Ninth  Grade 256 

Tenth  Grade 257 

Eleventh  Grade 259 

Twelfth  Grade 259 


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194 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 


Schedules  of  Boston  Public  Schools 
OCCUPATIONAL  RECORD 


Name Address 

School Grade 

Date  of  leaving Certificate Date  issued. 

Can  the  industrial  outlook  of  this  person  be  bettered  ? 


How?., 


Date  employed 

Firm  name 

Firm  address 

Position  (how  found) . 
Kind  of  work 


Vocational   intent  shown   in 
occupation  accepted , 


Chance  for  advancement. 

Initial  wage 

Increases 

Reason  for  Increases 

Hours 

Date  of  leaving 

Employer's  statement 

Employee's  statement  — 


First 
occupation 


Second 
occupation 


Third 
occupation 


General  financial  condition  of  the  family. 


Pupil  excels  in  or  likes  what  subjects?. 


rupll  fails  in  or  dislikes  what  subjects?. 


Physique. 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL  195 

SCHOOL  RECORD 

Date  of  birth Age Yrs Mos 

Hirthplace 

Years  in  school Graduated 

Reasons  for  leaving  school 


High  School  attended How  long  ?. 

Other  school  attended How  long?. 


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(  202  ) 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL  203 


POINTS  FOR  DISCUSSION 

Used  in  a  Series  of  Conferences  with  New  York 
School  Officials 

A  new  agency  :  — 

What  new  agencies,  if  any,  should  bo  intro(hiccfl  into  ilie 

pubHc  schools  to  lessen  the  number  of  children  under 

sixteen  who  quit  school  for  work? 
What  more  can  the  principal  and  teacher  do? 
How  best  reach  the  parents? 
Should  the  leaving  periods  be  better  regulated,  and  how 

distributed  throughout  the  year? 
\Miat  kind  of   educational   and  vocational    information 

sliould  be  given  in  the  elementary  school? 
Higli  school? 
Who  should  give  it? 

How  follow  up  the  results  of  such  advice? 
Should  occupational  booklets  be  used?     What  kind? 
How  prepared  and  by  whom? 
LfCCtures? 

Counselors  and  advisers  :  — 

Should  there  be  a  staff  of  special  counselors? 

What  training  sliould  they  have? 

How  qualify  for  the  work? 

What  should  be  their  powers  and  duties? 

What  their  relation  to  the  school  teacher? 

Wliat  preliminary  studies  and  investigations  are  needed 

before  introducing  such  system? 
How  extensive  and  intensive  should  such  studies  be? 

Pre-vocational  schools :  — 

How  far  can  the  pre-vocational  school  as  now  organized 
serve  the  purpose  of  holding  children  longer  in  school? 
How  assign  children  to  these  or  vocational  schools? 
Who  should  attend  to  the  assignment? 
\Miat  follow-up  should  there  be? 


204  SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 

What  variety  of  vocational  experiences  and  opportunities 

should  be  introduced? 
How  flexible  the  system  of  transferring  from  course  to 

course? 

Tests  and  medical  inspection  :  — 

What  physical  and  mental  tests  should  be  used  as  part  of 
the  vocational  service  under  discussion? 

What  medical  supervision? 

How  can  it  be  made  more  significant  in  choosing  a  voca- 
tional course  or  a  career? 

How  can  differentiated  courses  be  used  as  a  test  for  apti- 
tude? 

How  shall  such  tests  be  supervised? 

Employment  :  — 

What  help  shall  be  available  for  children  who  seek  work? 

Shall  they  be  permitted  to  hunt  jobs  unaided? 

Should  the  school  or  other  agency  give  advice  and  warn- 
ings as  to  particular  employers  and  employments? 

Shall  the  schools  attempt  to  find  positions  or  should  this 
be  left  to  the  Municipal  Employment  Bureau? 

Should  the  schools  have  a  follow-up  system  for  all  children 
under  sixteen  now  at  work,  no  matter  how  they  found 
their  jobs? 

What  is  the  objection  to  the  school  attempting  to  find 
work  for  those  under  sixteen? 

What  is  the  objection  to  children  finding  their  jobs  for 
themselves? 

Should  the  schools  attempt  to  control  the  juvenile  labor 
supply? 

How  best  do  this?  Or  should  the  schools  instead  work 
with  existing  employment  agencies? 

Until  the  compulsory  school  age  is  raised,  what  should 
schools  do  for  those  seeking  work  from  sixteen  to  eigh- 
teen —  for  those  already  in  employment? 

Should  children  under  eighteen  be  obliged  to  report  to 
some  school  agency  at  stated  periods  for  physical  and 
other  examination? 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERL^X  205 

Wluit  contact  should  the  school  cstahlish  with  emi)lo.ycrs? 

Is  further  Icgishitiou  needed  for  effective  suixTvision  hy 
the  schools  of  the  work  and  progress  of  employed  chil- 
dren under  eighteen? 

Should  the  Department  of  Education  or  a  new  bureau  or- 
ganize this  service;  or  would  it  he  best  to  effect  a  com- 
biualiou  of  existing  departments  and  agencies? 

HIGH  SCHOOL,  SOMERVILLE,  MASS. 
Questionnaire  for  High  School  Pupils 
Name        Age         Yrs.         Mos.         Class        Room 

1.  Do  you  exjiect  to  complete  a  course  of  four  years  in  the 
High  School? 

2.  If  not,  how  many  years  do  you  expect  to  stay? 

3.  If  you  do  not  expect  to  remain  four  years,  what  is  the 
reason : — 

(a)  Financial  conditions? 

(b)  Lack  of  success  in  school  work? 

(c)  Desire  to  go  to  work? 
{(l)  Loss  of  interest? 

4.  Please  underline  the  course  which  you  are  now  taking :  — 

(a)  General. 

(/;)  College  Preparatory. 

(c)  Manual  Arts. 

(d)  Commercial. 

(e)  2-year  Conmiercial. 

5.  What  led  you  to  choose  this  course:  — 

(a)  Atlvice  of  parents,  teachers,  friends? 

(b)  Success  of  others? 

(c)  Belief  in  your  personal  qualifications  and  ability 
for  the  work  of  this  course? 

6.  Do  you  know  what  studies  are  included  in  this  course:  — 

(a)  In  the  first  year? 

(b)  In  the  second  year? 
(o)   In  llie  third  year? 

(d)  In  the  fourth  year? 


206  SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 

7.  What  qualifications  do  you  think  you  have  for  the  work 
of  this  course? 

8.  "What  Hne  of  work  do  you  intend  to  follow  after  you 
leave  High  School? 

9.  What  do  you  understand  to  be  the  requirements  of  this 
work? 

10.  How  have  you  ascertained  these  requirements? 

11.  Is  this  the  work  which  you  really  desire  to  do? 

12.  \Miat  have  your  parents  advised? 

13.  To  what  extent,  if  any,  have  possible  financial  benefits 
influenced  your  choice? 

14.  If  this  is  not  the  work  which  you  really  desire  to  do,  why 
are  you  not  preparing  to  follow  your  personal  choice? 

15.  ^^^lat  service  to  the  community  are  you  planning  to 
render  through  your  vocation? 

Extra: 

A.  For  College  Preparatory  Pupils :  — 

1.  For  what  college  are  you  preparing? 

2.  Why  have  you  chosen  this  college? 

3.  What  are  its  requirements? 

B.  For  Scientific,  Normal  School,  Normal  Art  School, 
etc..  Preparatory  Pupils:  — 

1.  For  what  school  are  you  preparing? 

2.  Why  have  you  chosen  this  school? 

3.  What  are  its  requirements? 

Note:  —  Please  answer  questions  in  full  where  space  is 
given :  otherwise,  as  briefly  as  possible.  The  purpose  of  this 
inquiry  is  to  help  in  the  conduct  of  the  school  rather  than  to 
be  inquisitive  concerning  the  personal  affairs  of  the  pupils. 
Please  answer  frankly.  Replies  will  be  considered  confiden- 
tial. 


II 

RECORDS  OF  A  BOSTON  SCHOOL  VOCATIONAL 

COUNSELOR 

One  (lay  a  boy  in  our  school  brought  an  application  for  a 
City  Ilall  license  to  his  teacher  for  her  signature.  She  hesi- 
tated about  signing  it,  as  the  child  was  small  for  his  age 
(fourteen),  puny,  and  very  nervous.  He  had  been  in  the 
Massachusetts  General  Hospital  twice  that  year;  the  first 
time  with  aj)pendicitis,  the  second  time  with  adhesions.  In 
spite  of  the  excellent  nursing  he  had  received  there,  —  all 
free,  by  the  way,  —  he  was  still  weak  and  unsteady  and 
quite  unable  to  do  his  school  work  properly. 

On  questioning  the  boy,  the  teacher  found  that  he  was 
getting  up  at  3.30  every  morning,  going  over  to  the  news- 
paper offices  and  lugging  back  heavy  bundles  of  papers  to 
his  older  brothers  who  kept  a  prosperous  news-stand  "on 
the  Hill."  From  that  time  until  school-time  he  was  helping 
sell  the  papers,  often  getting  no  breakfast.  He  was  really 
dcjing  five  hours'  work  before  nine  o'clock.  The  child  insisted 
that  he  got  sleep  enough,  as  he  went  to  bed  at  6.30  every 
night.  As  his  home  was  in  a  crowded  tenement  house  and 
the  weather  was  warm  enough  to  necessitate  open  windows, 
the  sleep  he  could  possibly  get  was  quite  inadequate,  espe- 
cially under  the  circumstances. 

The  teacher  withheld  her  signature  and  sent  for  the  father. 
He  corroborated  the  boy's  statement,  but  protested,  "My 
Myer  has  to  work.  I  am  a  weak  man."  "  How  old  are  you?  " 
asked  the  teacher.  "I  am  forty-two,"  he  replied.  "And 
don't  you  work  at  all,  yourself?"  she  exclaimed  in  surprise. 
"Oh,  no!"  he  answered;  "I  have  my  children  to  work  for 
me."  The  teacher  labored  in  vain  to  make  him  see  or  even 
admit  that  harm  might  come  to  the  boy,  by  early  rising,  no 
breakfast  or  iusullicient  sleep.  "He's  not  sick,"  he  declared; 
"he  goes  to  bed  at  six  o'clock." 

Cut  she  was  still  unconvinced.  She  sent  for  the  Supervisor 


208  SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 

of  Licensed  Minors  and  stated  the  case  to  him.  He  at  once 
took  the  matter  in  hand,  verified  the  facts,  and  soon  con- 
vinced the  "weak"  parent  that  he  must  take  better  care  of 
the  boy,  or  the  court  would  take  a  hand  and  he  would  have 
to  "pay  money"  besides  losing  all  income  from  the  boy. 
The  officer  forbade  the  boy  to  work  before  6  a.m.,  made  the 
father  promise  to  obey  the  rules,  and  the  teacher  signed  the 
slip.  The  boy  got  proper  food  and  sleep,  his  nervousness 
lessened,  and  his  school  work  improved. 

Incidents  like  this  led  us  to  ask  ourselves  how  far  the  for- 
eign children  were  really  looked  upon  as  economic  assets  by 
their  parents.  Were  they  used  as  sources  of  income  at  the 
earliest  possible  age,  or  were  they  kept  in  school  as  long  as 
possible  only  being  taken  out  for  work  when  forced  by 
necessity? 

We  decided  to  find  out  by  following  up.  during  a  definite 
period,  as  far  as  possible  those  children  who  had  been  taken 
out  of  school  to  go  to  work.  We  took  for  our  data  the  school 
year  1911-12. 

Our  school  is  specially  adapted  for  such  inquiry,  as  thirty- 
eight  per  cent  of  its  seventeen  hundred  children  are  of 
Italian  parentage,  while  sixty-two  per  cent  is  practically 
Jewish.   The  other  nationalities  are,  therefore,  negligible. 

We  first  made  a  tabulated  list  from  the  available  school 
data  of  those  children.  We  found  there  were  eighty-one  of 
them,  all  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  sixteen  years. 
They  formed  only  4.7  per  cent  of  the  total  enrollment  of  the 
school,  being  7.8  per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  Jewish 
pupils  and  12.4  per  cent  of  the  entire  number  of  Italians, 
indicating  that  more  Italians  in  proportion  leave  than  Jews, 
which  we  later  found  to  be  true. 

Of  these  eighty-one  child  workers,  thirty -seven  were  of 
Jewish  birth  or  parentage,  wliile  forty  were  Italian;  only  four 
belonging  to  other  nationalities. 

Of  tlie  Jewish  children  only  four  were  born  in  this  country, 
while  twenty-six  were  born  in  Russia.  Ten  Italians  were 
American  born,  thirty  were  born  in  Italy  or  Sicily.  Cards 
could  not  be  found  for  twelve  children,  so  their  birthplaces 
could  not  be  traced.   . 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL  209 

Thirty -seven  of  these  children  entered  school  in  the  "Un- 
graded" or  noii-Enghsh-speaking  classes.  Only  twenty  be- 
gan in  the  first  grade  and  had  the  four  full  years  of  grade 
work  before  leaving;  for  the  ungraded  i)ui)ils  must  spend 
from  tliree  months  to  two  years  in  learning  the  language 
before  they  can  be  transferred  to  the  grades.  Most  of  them 
then  enter  the  third  or  fourth  grades,  a  few  exceptionally 
bright  ones  being  sent  to  the  fifth.  They  are  always  handi- 
capped by  lack  of  knowledge  of  English,  so  that  if  they  have 
to  leave  at  fourteen  years  for  work,  they  are  very  poorly 
equipped  for  life. 

The  old  law  required  that  the  child  must  reach  the  fourth 
grade  before  leaving,  and  the  majority  left  either  in  the  fifth 
or  sixth  grade,  very  few  of  the  eighty-one  reaching  the  higher 
classes. 

A  moment's  thought  will  convince  anj'^  one  how  little 
"schooling  "  they  had.  No  history,  no  grammar,  no  govern- 
ment, only  elementary  English,  and  only  a  glimpse  at  the 
countries  of  the  world.  What  meager  "content  of  mind" 
with  which  to  meet  life! 

Next,  we  made  out  an  exhaustive  list  of  questions  to  be 
sent  to  the  working  children.  This  list  we  made  as  detailed 
as  possible. 

The  questions  covered  school,  home,  family,  individual, 
and  employment  data,  and  were  intended  to  show  such  facts 
as  these:  the  age  and  grade  on  entering  and  leaving  school; 
the  number  of  years  in  school ;  the  reasons  given  by  the  chikl 
for  leaving;  the  ability  of  the  parent  to  keep  the  child  in 
school;  the  birthplace  of  the  child;  the  number  of  years  of 
the  parent  in  America;  whether  both  jjarents  were  living; 
the  number  of  children  in  the  family;  the  number  already 
working;  the  total  number  of  persons  in  the  home;  number  of 
rooms  in  the  tenement,  the  weekly  rent  and  income  of  the 
family;  the  use  of  present  wages  of  the  child,  etc. 

For  the  work  data  of  the  child  himself  we  secured  the  name 
of  the  firm,  the  trade,  the  kind  of  work,  the  hours,  wages, 
conditions,  etc.  The  new  labor  law  has  so  limited  the  hours 
and  thus  modified  wages,  however,  that  these  are  not  quite 
the  same  as  last  year.    The  hours  are  shortened  for  the 


210  SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 

younger  ones  and  the  older  ones  work  overtime  and  are  paid 
in  proportion.  All  wages  of  minors  are  in  process  of  adjust- 
ment to  the  new  scale.  On  the  old  schedule  the  child's  wages 
averaged  $5.50  per  week. 

The  list  of  questions  we  revised  and  simplified  again  and 
again,  even  giving  it  to  pupils  of  one  of  the  school  classes  to 
be  filled  in  at  home,  to  be  sure  the  questions  were  clear.  It 
was  interesting  to  find  how  very  simply  the  questions  must 
be  worded.  "Family  income"  meant  nothing.  "How  much 
money  does  your  father  get  a  week?"  brought  part  of  the 
answer,  and  by  asking  for  the  weekly  wage  of  each  worker 
in  the  family  and  adding  the  items,  we  found  the  total 
"family  wage." 

Then  we  sent  the  lists  to  the  children  who  had  gone  to 
work;  either  by  brothers  and  sisters  still  in  school,  or  by 
carefully  instructed  pupils  of  the  higher  grades.  We  were 
often  surprised  at  the  intelligence  and  persistence  shown  by 
the  youthful  investigators.  "I  sat  right  down  beside  her  and 
asked  her  the  questions,  and  filled  it  out  myself"  reported 
one  girl.  "Only  her  mother  was  in  and  she  was  afraid  to 
answer"  was  the  report  from  an  Italian  family.  That  hinted 
of  the  old  country,  fear  of  taxes  or  persecution.  "But  I'll 
go  again  to-night  when  she's  in  herself,"  said  the  child.  And 
a  second  visit  brought  the  desired  rephes.  Again,  "  You  know 
that  boy  you  asked  me  to  look  up?  Well,  he's  a  crook  and 
he's  just  been  sent  over,"  was  one  report  given  in  a  disgusted 
tone.  A  hopeless,  sad  case;  for  the  mother  told  us  only  last 
week  with  tears  in  her  eyes  that  "my  other  boy,  he  gets  in 
bad  company  and  is  away  again.  His  father  has  n't  any 
work,  and  my  girl  she  got  a  feller  and  only  earns  $5,  and  when 
a  girl  wants  to  get  married,  I  can't  take  her  money." 

The  child  workers  themselves  took  a  lively  interest  in 
filling  out  the  lists  fully  and  correctly,  and  often  sent  us  in 
additional  bits  of  information.   As,  "I  caught  my  hand  in  a 

candy  machine  and  was  laid  off  for  two  weeks.    But  S 's 

paid  me  my  wages,"  S 's  being  a  favorite  place  of  em- 
ployment on  account  of  the  good  wages,  fair  treatment,  bene- 
fit clubs,  and  medical  attendance  the  girls  receive.  Or,  "You 
tell  Miss  A.  my  mother  is  in  Russia,  and  I  am  working  to 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL  211 

have  her  come  over."  Again,  "I  '11  come  up  myself  some  noon 
and  see  her."  And  very  often,  "I  do  wish  I  could  have 
stayed  in  school  to  graduate";  the  simple  exercises  and  blue- 
rihhoned  diploma  given  at  the  completion  of  the  eighth  year 
being  a  much  ai)preciated  goal. 

Of  our  eighty-one  children  some  had  moved  away;  others, 
chiefly  Italian  girls,  had  stayed  at  home  to  help  in  the  house- 
work. One  proudly  reported,  "I  don't  have  to  answer  any 
questions,  I'm  engaged."  Quite  a  suUicient  reason,  our  prin- 
cipal thought.  A  number  of  the  boys  were  working  with 
their  fathers  on  teams,  in  tailoring  places,  or  in  l)arbcr  shops. 
Some  returned  incomplete  lists.  But  we  were  able  to  get 
twenty-five  exhaustive  lists  answering  all  of  the  questions 
sent  out.  As  these  represented  both  Jewish  and  Italian  boys 
and  girls,  we  felt  that  we  had  sufficient  data  on  which  to 
base  our  conclusions. 

Then  we  proceeded  to  arrange  our  tables  and  work  out 
our  averages,  which  brought  out  some  very  interesting  facts 
and  comparisons. 

Table  I.    Ages  and  grades 

From  this  table  we  found  that  nineteen  of  the  children 
were  foreign-born,  only  six  having  been  born  here.  The 
Jewish  children  averaged  eleven  years  on  entering  school, 
which,  as  they  left  at  fifteen  years,  gave  them  four  years  of 
school.  The  greater  number  of  Italians  entered  at  nine 
years,  but  left  a  little  earlier,  giving  them  about  sLx  years 
in  school.  But  while  the  majority  of  both  entered  the  un- 
graded classes,  the  Jewish  children  got  ahead  faster,  more  of 
them  staying  in  school  until  the  higher  grades. 

Table  II.  Family  card 

From  this  we  found  that  the  majority  of  the  j)arents  were 
living  —  only  three  lathers  and  two  mothers  Ijtiiig  dead. 
More  of  the  Jewish  parents  could  .speak  English  than  the 
Ilali;in;  almost  none  of  the  Italian  mothers  siieaking  any- 
thing but  their  mother-tongue,  even  after  living  here  several 


212  SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 

years.  They  depend  on  the  children  to  deal  with  the  Ameri- 
can world  for  them. 

Only  three  fathers  were  not  at  work.  Two  mothers  were 
at  work,  these  being  in  families  where  the  fathers  had  died. 

Table  III.   Incomes 

To  decide  on  the  necessity  for  putting  the  child  to 
work,  it  was  necessary  to  find  out  how  man\'  persons  were 
being  supported  on  each  "family  wage,"  and  how  many 
persons  in  each  family  were  already  contributing  to  that 
sum. 

We  found  that  the  average  number  of  children  in  a  family 
was  six,  which,  with  the  two  parents,  made  eight  persons  to 
be  sheltered,  warmed,  fed,  clothed,  and  amused  from  the 
family  purse.  There  was  an  average  of  two  other  children 
already  at  work,  making  tliree  persons  already  contributing 
to  this  sum. 

A  study  of  living  conditions  showed  that  the  number  of 
rooms  in  each  tenement  averaged  4.8  for  the  Jewish  families, 
and  3.8  for  the  Italians.  As  the  number  of  persons  was  eight 
to  a  family,  this  made  two  persons  to  a  room,  including  the 
kitchen.  The  average  weekly  rent  paid  by  the  Jewish  fam- 
ilies was  $4,  while  the  Italians  paid  slightly  less  than  $3.50 
for  fewer  rooms. 

There  was  a  marked  difference  in  the  location  and  condi- 
tions of  the  tenements  occupied  by  the  two  races.  The 
Italians  crowded  into  as  small  space  as  possible  and  made 
no  attempt  to  live  in  American  fashion.  The  typical  Italian 
tenement  consisted  of  a  comljined  kitchen,  dining-room,  and 
parlor  at  the  front,  with  the  sink  between  the  two  windows, 
—  for  the  economy  of  the  landlord  and  the  convenience  of 
the  plumber,  and  one,  two,  or  three  semi-lighted  or  dark 
bedrooms  opening  out  of  this  one  room,  —  all  for  a  family  of 
eight. 

The  Jewish  families,  however,  tried  to  have  a  parlor  for 
company  and  holidays  —  even  if  it  must  serve  as  a  bedroom 
at  night.  One  poor  but  courteous  soul  apologized  for  her 
empty  front  room  by  explaining  that  her  daughter  had  just 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL  213 

been  married,  and  as  they  had  no  money  for  her  dowry  they 
had  given  her  the  [Kirlor  furniture. 

Furtlier  .slu(i.^■  t)f  'J'ul>le  111  sliowed  that  the  average  weekly 
family  wjige  of  the  Jewish  family  was  $22.46,  making  the 
individual  averages  (eight  to  a  family)  $2.83.  The  Italian 
wage  was  hut  $1(5.33  and  the  individual  income  only  $1.97, 
less  than  the  $2  considered  possible  to  live  on  by  social  work- 
ers. The  total  average  was  $19.29  and  the  average  per  person 
only  $2.40.  This  must  cover  the  five  economic  "must  haves" 
—  rent,  food,  heat,  light,  and  clothing,  not  to  include  amuse- 
ments. 

Table  IV.  Reasons  for  leaving 

Referring  to  Table  IV  we  find  that  ten  of  the  Jewish  chil- 
dren said  that  they  were  obliged  to  leave,  while  only  four 
elaimcfl  they  were  not.  Even  these  felt  that  they  needed 
more  than  their  parents  could  give  them.  Only  three  wished 
to  leave.  Of  the  Italian  children  nine  were  obliged  to  help 
the  family;  only  three  were  not.  One  girl  was  "too  old  to 
stay  in  school." 

Thus  the  most  of  them  left  school  not  voluntarily,  but 
because  they  felt  the  pressure  of  necessity.  The  majority  of 
the  parents  were  willing  to  have  kept  the  children  in  school, 
but  felt  that  they  needed  their  help. 

^^^^o  is  to  d(>termine  the  necessity,  —  the  child,  the  parent, 
the  school,  the  l)usincss  world?  Under  the  new  law  several 
thousand  must  receive  further  instruction  or  return  to  day 
school.  The  firms  will  no  longer  employ  fourteen-year- 
olders.   Can  the  i)arents  keep  the  child  in  school.'' 

Before  answering,  let  us  study  local  conditions.  The 
school  is  in  the  very  heart  of  the  most  congested  district  in 
New  England.  Rents  for  the  better  class  average  quite  as 
high  if  not  higher  than  elsewhere  in  the  city  or  suburbs. 
Children  often  tell  us,  "We  are  moving  to  Roxbury  to  get 
more  rooms  and  not  pay  so  much  rent."  Where  in  the  West 
End  they  pay  $20  to  $25  for  five  small,  ill-lighted,  stuffy 
rooms,  in  other  sections  they  can  get  a  flat  of  six  bright, 
sunny  rooms  for  the  same  money.  Quite  a  consideration  in  a 
ra{)idly  growing  family  from  a  moral  as  well  as  a  physical 
point  of  view. 


214  SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 

Living  is  expensive,  too.  The  average  weekly  cost  of  food 
for  a  family  is  $9.75;  coal  sells  at  from  $8  to  $9  a  ton,  —  the 
latter  price  if  bought  by  the  bags  at  45  cents  and  two  bags 
a  week  used.  Staples  are  no  cheaper  here  than  anywhere 
else.  Flour  is  80  cents  a  bag;  butter,  40  cents  a  pound;  milk, 
9  cents  a  quart;  potatoes,  25  cents  a  peck;  and  the  much  dis- 
cussed eggs  sell  at  from  35  to  60  cents  a  dozen.  These  prices 
are  the  current  ones  given  by  a  class  still  in  school  and  are 
sent  in  by  the  mothers.  Light  averages  $3.15  a  month. 
Clothing  varies  —  one  week  considerable  is  bought,  others 
very  little.  One  mother  gave  25  cents  a  month  as  being  her 
average.  This  clothing  item  has  some  interesting  phases. 
When  the  children  are  small,  the  Jewish  or  Italian  mother 
buys  their  little  dresses,  coats,  shoes,  and  even  hats  (for 
Sunday  —  they  are  never  worn  on  week-days)  in  the  base- 
ment or  one-room  stores  of  the  neighborhood.  She  gesticu- 
lates and  haggles  to  her  heart's  content  and  often  secures 
great  bargains.  Even  the  children  are  great  shoppers  and 
reply  to  the  sewing  teacher's  query,  "WTiy  were  you  gone 
so  long?"  with  "He  wanted  4  cents  a  yard  for  that  lace  and 
I  went  over  to  N.'s,  where  I  knew  I  could  get  it  for  3  cents." 
Many  mothers  never  shop  farther  uptown  than  Bowdoin 
Square  and  a  shopping  trip  to  "H — — 's"  is  an  event.  "I 
must  go  uptown  with  my  mother  this  afternoon"  is  an  indis- 
putable excuse  for  absence. 

But  as  the  children  get  old  enough  to  go  shopping  alone, 
the  attractions  of  the  big  stores  soon  lead  them  from  the 
West  End.  We  begin  to  see  signs  of  budding  vanity,  —  a 
bead  chain  from  the  "fi-ten,"  a  plaid  hair-ribbon  bought  in 
J.'s  basement  store,  a  tight  skirt  worn  in  spite  of  discomfort 
"because  it  becomes  me,"  or  perhaps  on  Monday  even  a 
white  collar  and  gay  tie  worn  over  from  Sunday.  One  small 
girl,  so  poor  that  she  has  but  one  black  sateen  dress,  proudly 
displays  a  wrist-purse  of  brown  leather,  and  another  also 
poverty  poor  rejoices  in  a  gay  pink  hair-ribbon  which  quite 
conceals  her  wispy  hair. 

This  love  for  pretty  things  crops  out  early  in  our  little 
aliens  and  should  be  legitimately  gratified.  We  of  more 
sober  ancestry  cannot  half  appreciate  tliis  longing  for  glitter- 


RTT.GESTIVE   MATERIAL  215 

inp  gold  and  bright  raiment.   But  it  must  be  provided  for  or 
it  will  lead  into  temptation  before  many  years. 

Tlie  younger  eliildren  in  the  family  must  l)e  eonsidered. 
Often  the  child  leaves  because  "there's  five  younger  than 
me  and  my  father  says  he  can't  support  me  any  longer." 
IIow  fast  tlie  little  tots  outgrow  dresses  and  how  often  they 
havt!  to  have  new  shoes!  "My  father  has  to  buy  one  of  us 
new  shoes  every  week"  is  a  frequent  wail.  And  such  cheap 
slioes  as  they  are  —  no  wonder  they  wear  out  so  quickly. 
The  children  dearly  love  the  little  black-eyed,  curly-haired 
tots,  and  are  anxious  to  work  "to  help  buy  my  baby  clothes." 

Many  and  many  a  boy  or  girl  not  yet  out  of  the  'teens  is 
regularly  hel])ing  to  support  the  yoimger  ones,  either  by 
giving  their  wages  to  the  mother  for  the  family  fund  or  by 
using  them  in  a  definite  way.  In  one  case  two  of  our  old  boys 
are  sending  themselves  through  Art  School  and  at  the  same 
time  clothing  three  little  sisters,  and  doing  it  well,  too,  —  by 
tending  a  news-stand  in  a  hotel. 

Then  the  pleasures  of  life!  The  music  lessons,  clubs, 
dances,  theaters,  all  so  fascinating  to  our  children  of  South- 
ern blood!  And  the  "movies,"  notliing  has  ever  so  bewitched 
them!  One  sweet-faced,  blue-eyed  lad  actually  "fit  the  cop," 
to  quote  his  own  words,  who  refused  him  admittance  after 
6  P.M.  Our  school  district  and  adjacent  streets  are  dotted 
with  them  in  all  the  allurements  of  their  lights  and  music. 
And  for  better  or  for  worse  they  are  here  to  stay.  And  it  is 
our  business  as  lovers  of  children  to  see  that  they  are  "for 
better."  Many  of  the  films  are  unobjectionable  and  a  large 
number  are  educational.  The  children  are  keener  critics 
than  W'e.  The  boys  scoff  at  too  sentimental  love-scenes,  — 
"they're  too  silly";  and  the  girls  "don't  like  the  shooting." 
But  many  a  geography  or  history  lesson  is  verified  by  an 
enthusiastic  description  of  a  "snake  dance"  or  an  "Indian 
fight"  or  a  "canal  view"  seen  that  week  at  a  favorite  "Star" 
or  "Beacon." 

We  may  wish  the  conditions  surrounding  these  places  of 
amusement  were  different,  but  the  child  sees  only  the  joy 
and  action,  and  goes  every  time  he  gets  hold  of  a  stray 
nickel. 


216  SUGGESTI\^  MATERIAL 

And  how  to  gratify  the  higher  ambitions!  All  praise  and 
gratitude  for  the  opportunities  offered  Ijv  our  settlements  for 
music  and  dancing  lessons,  for  clubs  and  sewing  classes  and 
gymnasiums.  But  the  teaching  given  there  can  be  but  ele- 
mentary. And  that  boy  whose  skillful  touch  is  drawing  such 
exquisite  strains  from  his  beloved  violin  as  we  enter  the 
school  hall  must  earn  the  money  for  his  own  lessons. 

\\Tiat  can  be  done  for  the  hand-minded?  Our  elementarj' 
schools  as  yet  furnish  no  answer  to  this  girl's  plea,  "But, 
Miss  A.,  I  don't  want  to  go  into  a  candy  factory,  I  love  to 
make  hats."  So  she  leaves  to  learn  her  trade  in  a  basement 
millinerj'  shop,  from  whence  she  soon  turns  out  stylish  and 
even  artistic  hats. 

Can  the  family  wage  supply  all  these  needs  .'^  The  family 
incomes  average  about  $20.  Of  this  $3.50  goes  for  rent,  $10 
for  food,  $1  for  heat,  75  cents  for  light,  leaving  about  $5  for 
clothing,  insurance,  house  replenishing,  and  pleasures  for 
eight  people. 

If  the  father's  wage  cannot  cover  all  these  things,  the  child 
must  leave  school  and  contribute  his  $4  or  $5  weekly,  which 
will  help  to  secure  them  for  himself.  For  this  cannot  all  be 
done  on  $2  a  week,  —  $2.75  or  $3  a  week  is  all  too  meager  as 
shown  by  the  actual  figures,  taken,  not  from  dry  reports  or 
hearsay,  but  from  the  weekly  data  given  by  the  mothers 
themselves,  and  set  down  fresh  from  their  facts. 

What  is  the  remedy?  Many  suggestions  are  offered: 
cooperative  stores,  special  discounts,  mothers'  pensions, 
continuation  schools,  etc.;  but  the  one  vital  thing  which  will 
enable  the  children  to  remain  in  school  is  to  give  the  father  a 
living  individual  wage  su-fEcient  to  support  and  educate  the 
children  he  has  given  to  the  nation,  that  they  may  become 
"Little  Citizens"  in  fact  as  well  as  name. 


Ill 

SPECIMENS  OF  VOCATIONAL  TALKS  GIVEN  BY 
EXPERTS  AT  MEETINGS  OF  THE  VOCATIONAL 
COUNSELORS  OF  BOSTON 

The  Educational  Side  of  the  Shoe  Industry 

The  ("ducational  side  of  the  shoe  industry  might  be  classi- 
fied under  four  heads:  — 

1.  The  first  wouki  be  the  preparation  of  the  expert  in  the 
shoe  industry,  —  that  is,  the  man  who  knows  shoes  thor- 
oughly, as  well  as  the  anatomy  of  the  human  foot. 

2.  The  second  class  would  include  the  training  of  the 
superintendent  and  foreman  to  take  charge  of  our  large  shoe 
factories. 

3.  The  third  group  would  include  the  salesman  and  the 
expert  on  the  selling  end  of  the  enterprise. 

4.  And  the  fourth  type  of  school  would  be  the  kind  that 
gives  a  general  education  to  the  boy  or  girl  who  goes  to  work 
in  the  shoe  factory  as  an  ordinary  operator. 

Now  I  will  pass  over  l)rieiiy  those  four  classes. 

Of  the  first  type  of  school  there  are  at  least  one  or  two  in 
this  country  and  a  great  many  across  the  water.  If  you 
should  go  to  London,  Berlin,  Amsterdam,  Cologne,  and  all 
the  great  German  cities,  you  would  find  large  buildings 
devoted  to  the  study  of  leather  products.  Those  schools  pre- 
pare the  expert  in  the  same  way  as  the  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology prei)ares  the  chemist  to  go  out  and  do  the  analytical 
work  of  our  large  industries. 

Of  the  second  type,  which  prepares  the  foreman  and  super- 
intendents, there  are  a  munber  of  private  schools  situated 
in  Brockton,  Lynn,  and  some  other  large  shoe  centers  that 
make  a  specialty  of  training  operators  in  the  different  lines 
of  work  done  in  the  shoe  factories. 

Now,  I  want  to  go  over  briefly  to-day  the  ways  in  which 


218  SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 

the  ordinary  shoe- worker  becomes  a  superintendent  and 
foreman  when  he  does  not  get  this  pre})aration  in  the  school. 

In  the  large  country  districts  of  Massachusetts  and  New 
Hampshire  and  Maine  we  will  find  isolated  shoe  factories 
manufacturing  third-rate  shoes.  These  factories  draw  upon 
the  country  help  for  their  labor.  They  take  the  girls,  for 
instance,  and  break  them  in  on  the  stitching-machines. 
They  take  the  boys  and  men  and  break  them  in  on  the  differ- 
ent lines  of  machinery  that  they  use  in  the  factories.  When 
a  man  has  been  in  the  factory  some  six  months  he  migrates 
to  some  other  shoe  center,  usually  Lynn  or  Brockton.  Usu- 
ally no  one  can  join  the  union  who  has  not  had  six  months' 
experience  of  this  kind.  As  the  result  of  his  experience  in  the 
third-rate  factories  he  goes  into  the  labor  unions  and  he  is 
taken  into  the  different  departments  devoted  to  the  trade. 
He  then  goes  out  looking  for  a  position,  with  his  union  card, 
and  he  gets  into  some  high-class  shoe  factory  and  tells  the 
foreman  that  he  is  an  ex^jerienced  laster  on  first-class  shoes. 
He  goes  to  work  and  he  spoils  a  great  many  shoes.  Then  the 
foreman  comes  up  to  him  and  tells  him  that  he  will  not  do 
and  dismisses  him.  As  a  result  of  that  experience  he  goes  to 
still  another  shoe  factory  in  the  same  town,  or  in  an  adjoin- 
ing town,  and  applies  for  a  position  again.  He  may  work  a 
few  days  in  the  new  factory  when  he  gets  dismissed  once 
more.  This  may  go  on  for  two  or  three  weeks.  Finally  he 
gets  into  an  establishment  where  he  meets  some  kind  friend 
who  is  able  and  willing  to  help  him  along,  and  in  this  way  he 
secures  the  training  necessary  to  be  a  first-class  laster.  That 
is  what  is  called  "stealing  a  trade,"  and  it  is  what  a  first- 
class  worker  always  has  to  go  through. 

Now,  the  question  arises,  ^Miat  can  the  schools  do  to  help 
the  superintendent  and  foreman.'*  I  feel  that  in  every  large 
shoe  center  there  should  be  evening  courses  for  men  working 
in  the  shops,  to  supplement  their  day  experience,  to  give 
them  the  knowledge  that  they  obtain  so  laboriously  in  the 
industry  itself. 

For  example,  a  man  is  working  in  the  lasting  department. 
He  wants  to  know  something  about  the  organization  of  the 
shoe  department,  or  the  cutting  department,  or  the  finishing 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL  210 

department.  Yon  know  we  begin  to  work  at  the  stroke  of  the 
gong  in  a  large  industry  like  this,  and  it  is  iinjxjssihle  for  a 
man  who  works  in  one  department  to  go  into  the  one  that 
follows  and  try  to  get  some  idea  of  the  general  organization 
of  the  whole  [)lant.  No,  he  must  go  to  his  machine  and  stay 
there  till  the  hell  rings  to  go  home.  In  this  way  he  loses  the 
knowl(>dge  that  was  given  to  the  boy  who  was  taught  under 
the  old  apprenticeshij)  system. 

That  is  the  universal  experience,  and,  as  I  said,  an  evening 
school  in  some  one  of  our  educational  centers  devoted,  for 
example,  to  a  course  of  lectures  on  the  boot  and  shoe  indus- 
try, would  give  this  man  practical  experience  to  supplement 
what  he  already  knows,  and  thus  he  would  have  a  knowledge 
outside  his  own  immerliate  department. 

Now,  the  class  that  I  want  to  lay  particular  stress  upon  is 
the  average  worker.  The  average  boy  is  the  boy  who  does  n't 
care  much  about  school.  Nevertheless,  that  boy  when  he 
comes  to  man's  estate  must  get  an  existence,  and  he  is  very 
probably  the  boy  who  will  later  work  in  the  shoe  factory. 
The  question  arises.  What  can  you  do  for  this  boy?  I  feel 
that  every  boy  who  lives  in  a  shoe  center  ought  to  know 
something  about  the  shoe  industry.  It  ought  to  be  a  part  of 
his  mental  training  course.  He  should  know  how  to  cobble 
shoes.  I  have  in  mind  at  the  present  time  a  teacher  in  one  of 
the  grammar  schools  in  Lowell  who  devotes  four  hours  a 
week  to  cobbling.  Every  l)oy  in  the  school  brings  his  shoes, 
and  that  teacher  does  all  the  cobbling  in  that  neighborhood. 
You  go  into  a  shoe  factory  to-day  and  you  will  see  a  man 
taking  a  large  striji  of  leatlier  and  putting  it  in  at  one  end  of 
a  machine  and  taking  it  out  at  the  other.  If  John  had  re- 
ceived in  the  grammar  school  a  course  in  manual  training,  in 
cobbling,  in  shoemaking,  he  would  know  just  what  the 
different  steps  are  in  the  process  of  shoemaking.  If  John 
knows  that  it  is  necessary  to  condense  the  fiber  of  leather  by 
beating  it  on  the  lapst(me,  then  when  he  goes  into  the  shoe 
factory  that  machine  will  mean  something  to  him.  Why? 
Because  he  will  make  a  comparison  between  his  pre\i()us 
experience  and  what  he  is  learning  now.  That  is  the  onl^- 
way  the  shoe  industry  can  be  made  educational  to-day. 


220  SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 

It  is  the  same  way  with  cutting  and  stitching.  If  a  girl 
goes  into  a  shoe  factory  to-day  and  works  on  a  stitching- 
machine,  all  she  does  is  to  feed  the  machine.  She  knows 
nothing  about  the  different  kinds  of  leather,  the  different 
processes  in  the  manufacture  of  the  shoe. 

A  boy  should  be  taught  something  of  the  anatomy  of  the 
foot.  He  ought  to  know  that  our  feet  are  a  mass  of  a  great 
many  small  bones,  and  he  ought  to  know  that  if  those  bones 
are  crowded  the  foot  will  be  deformed.  A  course  of  two 
hours  a  week,  from  the  seventh  to  the  ninth  grade  in  the 
grammar  school,  in  cobbling  and  shoemaking,  would  facili- 
tate matters  greatly.  Have  the  children  tell  sometliing  about 
the  different  hides,  the  best  part  of  the  hide,  something  about 
the  belly  of  the  hide,  what  kind  of  leather  will  make  the  best 
soles,  the  best  heels,  etc.  A  course  like  that  would  develop 
in  the  boy  an  industrial  intelligence,  and  when  he  goes  to 
work  on  the  machine  he  will  not  become  a  part  of  the  ma- 
chine; he  will  know  what  he  is  doing,  he  will  know  the  object 
of  every  pull,  of  every  twist,  of  every  movement  of  that 
machine.  As  it  stands  to-day,  the  shoe  industry  is  not  edu- 
cational. The  boy  at  the  machine  to-day  does  no  thinking, 
develops  no  initiative,  has  stimulated  in  him  no  ambition. 
At  the  age  of  eighteen  or  twenty  he  knows  even  less  about 
the  shoe  industry  than  when  he  left  school.  He  is  absolutely 
ignorant  and  cannot  use  his  head. 

Lunch-Room  and  Restaurant  Work  for  Young 

Women 

Next  to  teaching,  the  most  valuable  piece  of  work  that 
can  be  done  in  the  community  to-day  is  to  offer  wholesome, 
hearty,  well-prepared,  palatable  food  to  the  average  man 
and  woman,  at  such  a  price  as  he  or  she  can  afford  to  pay. 
I  believe,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  it  is  precisely  this  thing  I 
am  personally  trj'ing  to  do,  that  I  can  get  a  point  of  view 
which  enables  me  to  see  things  in  a  way  that  justifies  me  in 
drawing  this  conclusion,  and  in  believing  that  it  is  really 
unl)iased. 

Now,  assuming  that  this  is  so,  I  think  you  can  see  at  once 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL  221 

why  this  opportunity  to  corac  before  the  men  and  women  of 
the  Boston  i)ul)lie  sehools  who  are  peculiarly  interested  in 
vocational  guidance  seems  to  us  a  rather  big  one.  I  can  see, 
as  the  future  results  accruing  from  this  little  conference 
to-day,  an  increased  force  of  trained  workers  who,  in  time, 
will  make  it  possiI)U>  for  us  to  realize  the  ideal  whicli  we  are 
some  of  us  already  beginning  to  see.  I  believe  that  it  is  the 
entrance  of  women  into  this  line  of  work  in  the  last  fifteen  or 
twenty  years  which  has  made  possible  this  feeling  on  the 
I)art  of  a  good  many  of  us  who  are  in  the  work. 

Now  this  afternoon  I  want  to  make  three  i)oints:  — 

1.  In  the  first  place,  I  want  to  speak  of  the  permanency  of 
the  field.  I  am  going  to  try  to  prove  to  you  that  it  is  j^erma- 
nently  establislied,  and  tliat  it  oflfers  employment  to  an 
increasingly  large  number  of  persons,  under  conditions  which 
can  be  made  healthful  and  pleasant,  at  a  wage  which  com- 
pares favorably  with  the  returns  from  many  of  the  other 
trades. 

2.  Secondly,  we  find  that  more  and  more  there  is  coming 
to  be  expected,  in  those  who  take  up  this  work,  some  degree 
of  technical  knowledge  and  training,  so  that  not  only  the 
food,  but  tlie  manner  of  its  serving,  may  be  of  the  highest 
quality. 

3.  In  the  third  place,  a  certain  amount  of  business  educa- 
tion to  aid  in  the  sale  of  the  product  is  desirable. 

In  speaking  of  these  three  points  it  seems  to  me  that  it  is 
logical  to  assume  that  the  workers  in  this  field  must  be  more 
and  more  drawn  from  the  intelligent,  trained  group  in  the 
community,  and,  as  a  corollary  to  that,  that  this  field  of 
restaurant  and  hmch-room  work  does  recommend  itself  to 
the  intelligence  of  the  men  and  women  who  are  interested  in 
the  training  of  young  people. 

Now,  in  considering  the  question  of  the  field  itself,  —  that 
is,  as  to  whether  it  is  promising,  as  to  whether  it  is  fulfilling 
a  real  need  in  the  community,  not  only  for  to-day  but  for 
to-morrow,  —  I  think  we  need  to  stop  for  a  moment  and 
review  the  history  of  the  hinrh-room  as  it  exists  to-day. 

I  think  we  migiil  very  logically  ask,  in  the  first  i)lace. 
Why  Lave  we  these  big  lunch-rooms.^   Why  is  it  necessary 


222  SUGGESTIVE  ]\L\TERIAL 

for  us  to  establish  these  big  eating-places  all  over  the  city? 
Well,  the  history  of  the  development  of  the  commercial 
lunch-rooms  is  the  history  of  the  development  of  modern 
industry.  In  the  old  days  when  every  man  did  his  work  in  his 
own  little  shop,  or  in  his  neighbor's  shop,  every  man  was 
near  enough  to  his  kitchen  to  be  able  to  go  to  it,  the  meal 
being  prepared  by  the  women  in  the  home.  But  when  the 
man  had  to  leave  the  shop  and  come  to  the  big  factory  to  do 
his  work  it  is  perfectly  obvious  that  some  other  method  had 
to  be  provided.  Of  course  the  lunch-room  and  the  cafe  were 
the  solution.  But,  as  larger  and  larger  numbers  of  people 
came  longer  and  longer  distances  from  their  homes,  you  can 
see  at  once  that  in  this  simple  and  natural  way  the  need  for 
the  large  and  small  lunch-rooms  was  met.  There  is  no  ques- 
tion but  what  the  permanence  of  the  field  is  well  established, 
for  the  reason  that  there  is  no  question  but  what  our  modern 
methods  of  business  are  going  to  hold  for  a  long  time  yet. 
It  is  going  to  be  a  long  time  before  we  go  back  to  any  measur- 
able degree  to  the  old  situation.  And  so  that  means  the  con- 
tinued necessity  for  feeding  the  great  laboring  groups  of  the 
community. 

To-day  in  Boston  there  are  twelve  hundred  licensed  lunch- 
rooms, besides  all  the  many  common  eating-houses,  private 
clubs,  and  other  institutions  which  are  not  required  to  be 
licensed.  In  the  1905  census  in  Massachusetts  eight  thousand 
women  are  given  as  the  number  earning  their  livelihood  as 
waitresses.  There  are  no  figures  as  to  how  many  other 
women,  or  how  many  men,  are  engaged  in  processes  of  lunch- 
room work. 

I  have  taken  a  group  of  six  of  the  best  lunch-rooms  in 
Boston  from  which  to  get  figures.  In  all  six  of  these  lunch- 
rooms, four  of  which  are  managed  by  women,  there  are  about 
thirt}''  thousand  people  fed  every  day,  twenty  thousand  of 
whom  are  fed  at  noon.  These  lunch-rooms  employ  about 
eighteen  hundred  persons,  fourteen  hundred  of  whom  are 
women.  I  said  that  four  of  these  lunch-rooms  are  managed 
by  women.  Of  those  four  two  are  college-trained  persons. 
In  all  six  lunch-rooms  many  women  are  employed  in  mana- 
gerial positions.  These  managerial  positions,  of  course,  have 


SUGGESTRTi  MATERIAL  223 

fin  interest  for  any  one  who  is  considering  possibilities  for 
adv'iuicenient.  Salaries  range  from  $900  to  $1800  a  year  for 
women.  I  do  not  know  about  the  men.  For  the  eooks  and 
kitchen  workers  —  those  who  handle  all  the  different  proc- 
esses of  i)rei)aring  and  serving  the  food  —  the  average  hours 
are  fifty-four  a  week  —  about  nine  hours  a  day.  For  the 
waitresses  it  is  about  fifty  hours  per  week.  For  cooks  the 
average  wage  is  from  $10  to  $10  a  week,  with  two  meals  a 
day,  and  the  average  v.orking  week  is  about  six  days.  Some 
of  this  is  evening  work,  up  to  eight  o'clock,  when  supi)er 
is  served.  In  the  kitchen  group  of  assistance  the  average 
wage  is  $G  to  $9  a  week,  beginning  usually  at  $0  in  the  less 
skilled  i)artof  the  work,  and  advancing  to  about  $9  a  week, 
with  two  meals.  Beginning  at  $0,  most  of  the  lunch-rooms 
have  a  scale  of  wages  depending  somewhat  on  tenure  of 
odice. 

As  to  conditions  of  work  in  the  lunch-rooms,  I  tliink,  in  all 
justice  to  the  subject,  we  ought  to  say  that  in  these  six  lunch- 
rooms of  which  I  am  sjjeaking,  together  with  perhaps  a  lot 
more  in  the  city  of  which  I  have  not  as  intimate  a  knowledge, 
the  conditions  are  good.  I  think  the  scale  of  wages,  the  length 
of  the  working  hours,  and  the  character  of  the  place  in  which 
the  work  is  performed  are  all  probably  the  best  that  you 
would  find.  Those  of  us  women  who  are  in  the  trade  realize 
more  and  more  fully  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  lunch- 
rooms of  which  I  have  spoken,  and  possibly  a  few  others, 
unsatisfactory  conditions  prevail. 

I  want  to  contend  this  afternoon  that  those  conditions  can 
and  must  be  changed,  and  that  they  will  be  just  in  so  far  as 
the  more  intelligent  type  of  worker  is  introduced  into  the 
field.  Long  hours,  insufficient  wages,  lack  of  kitchen  space, 
all  improi)er  conditions  are  absolutely  unnecessary  from  the 
business  j)oint  of  view.  It  will  come,  then,  in  time,  to  be 
realized  that  to  have  uncomfortable,  unhealthy  conditions 
is  Ihe  most  extravagant  course  to  pursue;  as  also  to  have 
unskilled  workers.  Those  conditions  are  already  changing, 
(■onipetilion  itself  is  eradicating  them.  As  more  and  more 
people  go  into  the  field,  it  becomes  more  and  more  necessary 
that  those  of  us  in  the  field  should  produce  an  article  better 


224  SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 

than  the  other  man's.  Then  the  greater  education,  the  greater 
knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  average  patron  as  to  the  science 
of  food  itself,  is  making  a  very  real  demand  upon  us  and  is 
helping  very  much  to  push  things  along  in  that  direction. 

Now,  there  is  one  disadvantage  in  lunch-room  work  at  the 
present  time,  a  disadvantage  from  the  point  of  view  of  some 
people,  which  is  n't  necessarily  a  disadvantage  at  all.  That 
is  the  situation  which  we  find  in  the  "short  day."  "Short- 
time"  work  is  the  name  we  give  to  the  trade  of  the  worker 
who  comes  in  to  work  only  four  hours  at  noon,  when,  of 
course,  the  greater  bulk  of  the  work  has  to  be  done.  It  was 
pointed  out  to  me  the  other  day  that  really  we  are  filling  a 
need  in  the  community  by  providing  the  opportunity  for 
"short-time"  work  for  women.  Many  women  whose  families 
are  working  away  from  home  have  that  period  at  noontime 
free. 

There  is  one  thing,  however,  which  it  seems  to  me  really 
ought  to  be  eliminated,  and  that  is  what  we  call  the  "broken 
day."  In  many  places  meals  are  served  from  seven  to  seven, 
with  a  rest  in  between  in  the  afternoon.  From  my  point  of 
view  this  should  be  done  away  as  far  as  possible.  I  bring 
that  point  in  here  because  the  solution  of  that  problem  has 
to  do  with  the  question  of  training  before  the  worker  comes 
to  the  lunch-room  at  all.  At  present,  in  our  lunch-room,  we 
could  take  two  of  our  waitresses  and  give  them  a  full  working 
day  if  they  were  able  to  sew  and  darn;  for  we  have  the  care 
of  a  considerable  amount  of  linen.  In  our  group  of  twenty 
waitresses  we  have  not  one  who  is  qualified  for  this  work. 
The  highest  paid  position  is  that  of  the  cook,  and  I  have 
found  it  one  of  the  most  difficult  things  to  get  waitresses  who 
can  do  things  in  the  kitchen  which  need  to  be  done.  I  think 
this  is  because  of  a  certain  attitude  of  mind  which  prompts 
many  young  women  to  undervalue  the  importance  and  the 
dignity  of  such  work,  and  I  believe  very,  very  firmly,  that, 
under  present  conditions  at  least,  the  solution  of  that  prob- 
lem must  come  through  the  teacliing  which  the  girls  receive 
in  the  schools.  Tliey  must  have  a  change  of  heart  toward 
the  work  wliich  is  behind  the  scenes.  In  most  instances  un- 
satisfactory service  can  be  laid  very  largely  to  the  fact  that 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL  225 

we  find  ourselves  unable  to  get  the  kind  of  trained  intelli- 
gence absolutely  essential  in  the  handling  of  the  food  which  is 
put  before  the  customer. 

The  Opportunity  of  the  High-School  Student  in 
Lunch-Room  and  Restaurant  Work 

I  want  to  speak  to  you  to-day  particularly  of  the  oppor- 
tunity which  exists  for  the  high-school  student  in  lunch- 
room work.    A  year  ago  I  should  hav<!  said  that  she  had  no 
oj)j)orliiiiity   therein.    I  should  not  have  considered  for  a 
moment  being  troubled  with  a  girl  who  was  as  young  and 
inexperienced  as  the  average  high-school  girl  is.   But  early 
in  the  summer  the  manager  of  one  of  the  lunch-rooms  in  the 
city  came  to  me  and  said  she  had  a  girl  who  had  been  under- 
going a  year's  experience  in  her  own  little  lunch-room,  and 
would  we  give  her  a  chance  in  ours.'  We  thought  it  over  and 
decided  that  we  would  do  so.  So  she  came  to  us.  Before  she 
came  we  wondered  what  kind  of  work  she  could  do.    We 
started  her  in  on  eight  hours  a  day,  giving  her  light  work, 
but  such  as  required  care.  She  began  looking  over  meat.   It 
is  most  difficult  to  get  for  tliis  work  the  trained  worker.  We 
have  in  our  kitchen  a  large  amount  of  ground  meat  wliich  hag 
to  be  looked  over.  Perhaps  it  never  occurs  to  you,  when  you 
are  eating  your  croquettes,  that  the  meat  of  which  they  are 
made  has  to  undergo  a  very  close  inspection  to  rid  it  of  bone 
and  gristle.   It  takes  an  hour  and  a  half  to  do  that  kind  of 
work.    We  gave  her  the  inspection  of  the  meat  and  found 
she  did  it  carefully  and  well.  We  really  felt  a  decided  ray  of 
hope  that  the  schools  of  Boston  were  beginning  to  train  the 
girls  to  do  things  carefully,  and  that  in  the  future  we  should 
have  their  cooperation  in  preparing  girls  to  take  infinite 
pains. 

We  had  one  girl  who  started  as  a  "checker."  All  the  food 
that  is  served  on  trays  has  to  be  checked,  as  you  know.  She 
had  some  bookkeeping  knowledge,  so  we  gave  her  a  trial  as 
a  bookkee{)er,  in  which  she  did  exceedingly  well.  \Mien  we 
were  reorganizing  our  bakery  and  putting  it  on  a  scientific 
basis,  we  took  her  and  made  her  bakery  .superintendent,  and 


226  SUGGESTI\TE  MATERIAL 

in  this  work  she  has  done  very  well,  indeed.  She  has  in  five 
years  gone  from  $3.75  a  week  to  a  position  where  she  is  now 
getting  $15  a  week  on  a  seven-hour  day. 

We  have  in  our  employ  ten  high-school  girls,  five  of  whom 
are  doing  "short-time"  work,  Mrs.  Moran  has  called  your 
attention  to  the  fact  that  a  certain  number  of  girls  really 
wish  to  have  employment  for  a  short  number  of  hours  each 
day.  I  found  that  out  of  five  of  these,  three  had  been  with  us 
five  years  and  the  other  two,  two  and  three  years.  So  3'ou 
can  see  it  is  not  simply  a  drifting  work,  but  something  that 
has  met  a  real  need.  There  are  five  other  girls  who  are 
high-school  graduates  on  "short-time"  work,  getting  from 
$8  to  $15  a  week,  with  two  meals.  And  we  consider  that 
they  are  going  to  be  in  time  very  efficient  and  valuable 
workers. 

The  three  qualities  which  I  consider  most  essential  in  this 
kind  of  work  are :  First,  that  the  girl  should  be  able  to  take  a 
great  deal  of  care;  secondly,  that  she  should  be  ambitious  to 
attain  a  certain  standard  of  excellence  in  the  work;  and, 
thirdly,  that  she  should  be  able  to  secure  good  team  play. 
We  are  fortunate  in  our  place  in  having  a  large  kitchen  in 
which  to  work,  yet  even  then  you  can  guess  the  amount  of 
friction  that  inevitably  occurs  where  so  many  work  together. 
The  girl  who  aspires  to  a  managerial  position  must  be  able 
to  secure  this  good  team  play,  be  able  to  work  well  with  other 
people.  I  have  had  quite  a  good  deal  of  experience  with  girls, 
and  I  feel  that  they  would  all  have  been  of  very  much  more 
value  to  us  if  they  could  have  had  practical  experience  like 
this  before  taking  up  the  regular  college  work. 

I  think  this  whole  business  of  feeding  people  has  been  too 
much  looked  down  upon  by  every  one.  It  rests  to  a  great 
extent  with  the  teachers  to  correct  this  idea.  I  think  there  is 
an  artistic  sense  involved  in  getting  up  a  well-balanced  bill 
of  fare,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  we  have  the  right  to  expect 
that  one  of  the  most  valuable  results  incident  to  women  going 
into  industry  as  they  have  in  the  last  few  years  will  be  the 
bettering  of  conditions,  and  I  wish  that  you  teachers,  in 
talking  wath  your  girls,  would  emphasize  the  fact  that  theirs 
is  a  great  opportunity  in  shaping  these  conditions.   If  condi- 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL  227 

tions  are  poor  in  certain  restaurants  and  lunch-rooms,  people 
must  got  to  work  to  change  them.  Competition  alone  will  do 
a  great  deal  in  accompHshing  that  thing. 

Questions  and  Answers 

Q.  Is  there  any  chance  for  a  woman,  after  she  has  reached 
middle  age,  to  remain  in  this  work.' 

A.  I  do  not  tliink  that  I  can  answer  that  question  authori- 
tatively. I  know  that  a  good  many  women  who  have  reached 
middle  age  are  holding  their  positions  in  tliis  work.  It  is  a 
matter  of  regret  that  the  tenure  of  office  of  some  of  our 
waitresses  has  been  fully  twelve  years.  The  strain  of  such 
work  is  considerable,  and  one  of  the  essentials  of  such  work 
is  that  you  should  l>e  very  quick  and  clear-headed.  It  would 
seem  that  after  such  a  time  the  waitress  should  have  ad- 
vanced to  different  and  better  positions. 

Q.  Are  those  two  meals  that  the  waitresses  get  as  good  as 
what  the  patrons  receive? 

A.  In  answering  that  question,  I  must  again  speak  from 
my  limited  experience.  Our  waitresses  have  what  is  called  a 
"restricted"  menu;  that  is,  they  have  the  same  tilings  to  eat 
that  the  guests  secure  except  that  they  do  not  get  the  more 
expensive  dishes,  such  as  chicken.  I  imderstand  that  it  is  the 
custom  in  some  summer  hotels  to  give  employees  what  is  left 
when  the  guests  get  through. 

Q.  Could  not  somethuig  be  done  to  help  waitresses  get 
better  food? 

A.  I  think  there  is  always  a  way  to  do  the  thing  that  ought 
to  be  done.  We  sliould,  of  course,  have  to  establish  the  fact, 
first,  that  conditions  need  to  be  changed. 

Q.  What  are  the  chances  for  a  girl  to  start  out  for  herself 
in  lunch-room  work? 

A.  There  is  always  an  opportunity  for  a  well-managed 
lunch-room,  the  only  difficulty  being  that  considerable  cap- 
it^il  is  required  to  start  with.  Still,  unless  it  is  done  in  a  rather 
large  way,  it  is  not  ;i])t  to  be  ])n)fital)le. 

Q.  Wtnild  30U  advise  a  girl  to  go  into  hotel  work  as  a 
waitress? 


228  SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 

A.  I  should  not.  The  city  hotels  are  not  well  managed, 
and  that  is  because  they  lack  proper  supervision. 

ELECTRICAL  ENGINEERING 

I  shall  speak  to-day  merely  of  the  average  boy  or  girl. 
I  shall  not  refer  to  the  genius  except  to  say  at  the  very  out- 
set that  the  ordinary  laws  do  not  govern  his  actions.  There- 
fore what  I  shall  have  to  offer  will  be  what  seem  to  me  the 
possibilities  in  the  field  of  electrical  engineering  for  the  aver- 
age boy  or  girl,  and  I  must  say  right  here,  at  the  beginning, 
that,  from  my  point  of  view,  there  is  a  comparatively  limited 
field  for  the  girl  in  electrical  engineering  lines,  though  I  ought 
to  add  that  one  of  the  best  men  in  the  engineering  profession  in 
the  Westinghouse  Electric  and  Manufacturing  Company  is  a 
woman.  Of  course  that  is  a  very  rare  exception,  yet  I  hope  I 
shall  be  able  to  show  that  in  certain  branches  of  engineering 
there  is  ample  opportunity  and  good  prospects  for  successful 
and  profitable  work  for  women. 

Electrical  engineering  reaches  modern  industrial  condi- 
tions so  intimately  and  at  so  many  points  that  it  seems  to  me 
that  those  characteristics  wliich  tend  to  successful  accom- 
plislmient  in  electrical  engineering  are  very  little  different 
from  those  which  tend  to  successful  accomplisliment  in 
almost  any  branch  of  professional  activity. 

Electrical  engineering  touches  the  fields  of  intercommuni- 
cation in  the  telegraph  and  telephone,  embraces  mining,  the 
use  of  electric  lines,  transportation  on  the  electric  street 
railways  and  the  interurban  railway,  which  latter  promises 
enormous  growth  in  the  near  future,  and  also  the  field  of 
illuminating  engineering.  In  this  last  branch  I  believe  women 
may  well  play  an  important  part.  The  electric  signals  for  all 
branches  of  the  railway  service  may  also  properh'  come 
witliin  the  field  of  the  electrical  engineer. 

Now,  if  we  consider  any  one  branch  of  the  electrical 
engineering  profession,  we  find  that  in  general  it  may  be 
divided  mto  distinct  grou])s  of  effort,  involving  either  the 
sales  side,  the  pure  engineering  side,  the  manufacturing  side, 
the  financial  side,  or  the  accounting  side. 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL  221) 

So  far  as  relative  remuneration  is  coneernefl  along  these 
various  lines,  I  lliink  there  is  no  ciuestion  hut  that  from  the 
stHn(li)oiiiL  of  the  average  boy  the  eomiuereial  or  sales  side 
offers  the  greatest  opportunity  by  far.  And  by  saying  that  I 
think  it  offers  the  greatest  opportunity  I  mean  this:  that  the 
boy  of  the  average  high-sehool  training,  with  the  average 
keenness,  the  average  enthusiasm  and  interest  in  whatever 
work  he  may  undertake,  is  likely,  without  a  speeialized 
knowledge,  to  make  a  greater  advance  in  the  sales  depart- 
ment tlian  he  is  in  the  purely  engineering  department,  in  the 
accoimting  department,  or  the  financial  department.  I  be- 
lieve that  the  average  boy  is  apt  to  succeed  better  in  the  sales 
department  than  he  is  in  the  department  of  manufacturing. 
There  are  opportunities  in  the  department  of  manufacturing 
for  a  few  —  not  a  large  number  —  but  for  a  few  leading, 
high-priced  men.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  opportunities 
in  the  sales  department  for  a  consideral)le  ninuber  of  leading, 
high-priced  men,  and  it  is  for  that  reason  that,  so  far  as  my 
own  experience  goes,  I  believe  it  is  wise  to  direct  the  average 
keen,  alert  boy  to  the  i)ossibilities  in  the  commercial  line 
rather  than  in  the  purely  engineering  line.  It  is  not  at  all  a 
difficult  thing  for  one  good  engineer  to  keep  a  thousand  aver- 
age workmen  well  occupied.  It  is,  however,  becoming  more 
and  more  important  in  the  engineering  profession  that  goods, 
after  being  produced,  should  be  sold.  Antl  it  takes,  I  think, 
a  different  order  of  ability  to  present  to  a  possible  customer 
the  advantages  of  a  particular  line  of  product  from  that 
required  to  design  or  operate  electrical  maehinery.  I  should, 
therefore,  if  I  were  dealing  with  the  student  of  the  average 
high-school  age,  feel  strongly  inclined  to  direct  his  attention 
to  the  sales  rather  than  to  any  other  one  of  the  special  depart- 
ments in  the  engineering  profession. 

Now,  what  are  the  characteristics  which  are  important  in 
the  average  boy  for  liim  to  make  a  success  along  electrical 
engineering  lines.  I  dislike  to  say  along  electrical  engineering 
lines  because  I  believe  that  those  elements  which  contribute 
most  nuirkedly  to  the  success  of  a  young  man  entering  the 
profession  of  engineering  are  not  very  different,  whatever 
branch  he  may  choose  to  enter.   I  do  not  think  it  is  very 


230  SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 

different  in  civil  engineering  from  what  it  is  in  electrical 
engineering,  not  very  different  in  mining  from  what  it  is  in 
mechanical  engineering.  Pretty  much  the  same  general 
characteristics  count  for  success  in  all  of  these  Hnes  of  work. 
I  shall,  of  course,  assume  that  any  boy  who  goes  into  engi- 
neering has  a  high  regard  for  truth,  because  engineering  in 
its  very  essence  is  the  securing  of  the  truth  and  the  applica- 
tion of  that  truth  to  the  advancement  of  the  interests  of 
mankind.  I  should  imagine,  therefore,  that  we  may  accept 
it  as  fundamental  that  any  boy  who  enters  the  engineering 
profession  shall  be  honest.  If  he  is,  however,  to  enter  the 
profession  it  is  absolutely  essential  that,  whatever  else  he 
may  be,  he  should  be  mentally'  alert.  For  no  man  who  is  at 
all  sluggish  in  his  temperament  will  make  a  success  in  the 
highest  sense  of  the  term  in  the  engineering  profession.  So 
many  opportunities  arise  calling  for  quick  judgment.  I  do 
not  say  that  the  slow  but  sure  boy  will  not  make  a  certain 
success,  but  he  will  not  make  the  success,  other  things  being 
equal,  that  the  mentally  alert  boy  will  make.  So  I  regard 
this  quality  as  one  of  the  chief  assets  of  a  boy  who  is  to 
enter  that  profession.  It  is  not  only  in  the  sales  department 
that  this  is  true;  it  is  markedly  true  in  the  operation  depart- 
ment, and  those  of  us  who  know  of  this  side  of  the  work  know 
that  there  are  many  emergencies  which  arise  calling  for 
instant  action,  preceded  by  unerring  judgment. 

I  believe  that  for  the  boy  who  is  going  into  engineering 
mental  arithmetic  is  one  of  the  best  things  which  can  be 
studied.  If  I  were  to  choose  between  partial  payments  and  a 
good  sound  knowledge  of  mental  arithmetic,  I  should  not 
hesitate  one  instant  to  leave  out  the  partial  payments  and 
put  in  the  mental  arithmetic.  For  mental  alertness  is 
brought  about  by  mental  arithmetic  more  than  by  any  other 
study,  to  mj^  mind. 

And  while  I  am  speaking  of  those  things  which  conduce  to 
the  ability  of  the  teacher  to  judge  of  the  character  of  the 
boy,  I  would  urge  that  there  be  in  the  high  schools  a  greater 
realization  of  the  importance  of  bringing  the  boy  in  contact 
with  some  of  the  real  things  which  are  taking  place  along 
engineering  lines.   There  is  no  reason  why  the  schoolboy  of 


SUGGESTIVE   MATERIAL  231 

sovcntccn  or  eighteen  should  not  be  brmight  into  eontact 
with  ;i  real  power  station,  for  instance,  rather  than  I)e  simply 
hearing  aljuut  it.  There  is  no  reason  why  he  should  not  be 
brought  into  contact  with  a  real  telephone  exchange.  And 
I  believe  that  the  teacher  will  get  a  very  clear  idea  as  to 
whether  that  boy  has  any  sense  of  perspective  or  not  from 
the  character  of  the  r^uestions  he  asks  or  the  descriptions  he 
gives  of  this  visit.  It  seems  to  me  that  in  much  of  this  dis- 
cussion of  the  possibility  of  picking  for  a  boy  the  particular 
vocation  in  which  he  is  likely  to  be  successful  there  has  been 
altogether  too  much  analysis  of  the  individual  and  too  little 
bringing  him  in  eontact  with  the  actual  operations. 

Boys  thinking  of  entering  the  electrical  profession  must 
of  necessity  be  good  observers;  they  must  analyze  the  situa- 
tion; they  must  think.  And  thinking  is  not  a  commodity 
to-day  among  students  so  absolutely  in  excess  of  the  demand 
that  we  may  pass  it  by  without  some  careful  consideration. 
They  must  observe,  I  say,  they  must  analyze,  they  must 
think,  and  there  is  no  reason  why  a  boy  who  has  had  the 
average  high-school  training  and  comes  up  to  this  standard 
should  not  succeed  in  some  particular  line  of  engineering 
work  wathout  further  training.  It  is  possible  for  men  with 
only  a  grammar-school  training  to  rise  to  positions  of  real 
distinction.   I  have  known  of  those  who  did  so. 

One  minor  point  which  I  might  speak  of  here  is  the  im- 
portance to  students  who  think  of  entering  the  work  of 
engineering  of  keeping  some  form  of  systematic  data.  I 
believe  that  there  is  no  reason  whatever  why  a  young  man  of 
sixteen  or  seventeen  should  not  begin  to  collect  such  data, 
an  examination  of  which  by  the  teacher  will  show  the  trend 
of  that  boy's  mind.  I  have  inquired  of  many  high-school 
teachers  and  masters  of  high  schools  as  to  whether  any  sys- 
tematic card  cataloguing  was  done  along  this  line,  and  I  find 
that  it  is  by  no  means  general,  and  in  fact  rare.  But  if  we 
are  to  judge  whether  a  boy's  qualities  are  such  as  to  make  it 
probable  that  he  will  be  successful  in  engineering  work,  it 
seems  to  me  that  we  can  get  the  tentlency  of  his  mentality, 
the  tendency  of  his  interest,  by  having  him  collect  for  himself 
such  data  as  I  have  spoken  of.   I  do  not  believe,  however. 


232  SUGGESTI\^  MATERI.VL 

that  our  most  promising  material  comes  from  the  boys  who 
as  children  were  always  rigging  up  batteries  from  old  tomato 
cans;  but  I  do  believe  that  it  comes  from  the  boys  who  show  a 
certain  interest  in  these  things,  and  I  think  such  interest 
should  be  encouraged. 

A  boy  who  is  going  into  engineering  or  any  other  kind  of 
work  must  realize  the  importance  of  loyalty  and  mutual 
helpfulness.  There  are  too  many  boys  who  go  out  into  work 
with  the  idea  that  the  great  thing  is  to  look  out  for  No.  1 ; 
that  their  advancement  depends  upon  what  they  do  for 
themselves;  and  they  do  not  realize  that  in  the  organization 
of  which  they  form  a  small  part  those  that  are  responsible 
are  very  keen  to  observe  whether  a  boy  is  loyal  to  his 
employer  and  whether  he  is  mutually  helpful  to  his  fellow- 
employees. 

My  feeling,  then,  is,  briefly,  that  we  must  accept  as  funda- 
mental for  any  boy  who  is  going  into  engineering  work,  that 
he  should  be  honest,  that  he  should  be  mentally  alert,  that 
he  should  show  in  some  way  that  he  is  able  even  at  the  age 
of  fifteen  or  sixteen  to  discriminate  between  the  trivial  and 
the  important.  Though  not  absolutely  essential,  it  is  de- 
sirable that  he  should  have  a  high-school  training.  And  he 
should  have  an  appreciation  of  the  importance  of  mutual 
helpfulness. 

I  do  not  think  that  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  a  boy 
should  be  trained  in  the  higher  mathematics,  though  it  is 
important  that  he  should  have  some  power  of  imagination. 
Imagination  is  a  very  important  asset  for  the  engineer,  but 
that  he  should  show  some  power  of  analysis  also  seems  to  me 
absolutely  essential.  The  importance  of  the  personal  ele- 
ment cannot  be  too  strongly  dwelt  upon,  especially  in  the 
sales  department.  It  is  very  important  for  any  man  who  is 
selling  his  product  to  know  sufficient  of  its  engineering  rela- 
tions to  be  able  to  put  explicitly  and  briefly  and  tactfully 
before  his  possible  customer  its  best  points,  and  to  size  up 
the  situation  so  that  he  shall  know  when  he  has  gone  far 
enough.  I  believe  that  more  sales  are  lost  from  the  attempt 
to  be  a  little  old  man  and  thus  bore  the  prospective  customer 
into  buying  for  the  sake  of  getting  rid  of  a  nuisance. 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL  233 

Just  a  word  in  regard  to  illuminating  engineering.    Illn- 
minuliiig  engineering  is  a  distinct  branch  of  the  electrical 
engineering  profession,  and  this  is  a  field  into  which  I  believe 
a  girl  may  very  well  enter.  It  does  not  recjuire  that  a  person 
shall  l)e  highly  trained  in  mathematics,  in  language,  or  in 
literature.   It  docs  require  that  he  should  have  a  good  knowl- 
edge of  physics  and  a.'sthetics,  for  he  should  possess   good 
taste.   It  seems,  therefore,  that  it  is  preeminently  a  field  for 
women.  I  think  the  aesthetic  sense  of  womankind  is  certainly, 
so  far  as  my  experience  goes,  somewhat  superior  to  that  of 
mankind,  and  therefore,  since  illuminating  engineering  is  in 
its  infancy  a  young  girl  of  sixteen  or  seventeen  or  eighteen 
—  a  girl  just  developing  into  womanhood  —  might  do  very 
much  worse  in  my  judgment  than  study  the  subject  of  illum- 
inating engineering,  witli  the  idea  of  making  it  a  profession. 
It  is  very  nmch  like  sanitary  engineering  in  that  regard. 
There  is  more  demand  than  supply. 

Now,  as  to  what  remuneration  may  be  expected  for  the 
average  boy  who  is  entering  one  of  the  larger  manufacturing 
companies  to  secure  needed  experience  before  taking  a  posi- 
tion of  greater  or  less  independence,  I  can  only  say  that  the 
wage  which  the  average  boy  may  expect  upon  leaving  the 
high  school  will  not  be  greater  at  the  start  than  eight  or  nine 
dollars  a  week.  I  have  known  many  college  men  to  begin  at 
nine  dollars  per  week.  The  boy  has  got  to  make  his  own 
place.  Some  boys  will  go  ahead  faster  than  others,  of  course. 
As  to  wliat  a  boy  may  rise  to  in  the  sales  line,  there  is  no 
reason  whatsoever  why  he  should  not  rapidly  rise  to  $2000 
or  $2500  a  year,  and  there  is  no  reason  why  a  boy  of  marked 
ability  sliould  not  go  some  thousands  beyond  that.  The 
sales  engineer  is  a  very  well-paid  man.  I  don't  say  that  all 
sales  engineers  get  $4000  or  $5000  a  year,  any  more  than  all 
teachers  get  that.  But  there  is  no  reason  why  he  cannot 
rapidly  rise  to  at  least  $2000.  In  the  purely  engineering 
department  I  think  progress  is  slower.  I  cannot  say  much 
about  the  fiiuuicial  department.  In  the  work  of  the  illumin- 
ating engineer  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  best 
opportunity  is  along  consulting  lines,  and  any  one  of  us  who 
has  done  that  work  knows  that  it  is  extremely  profitable. 


234  SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 

On  the  accounting  side  I  believe  that  the  returns  are  not 
very  different  from  those  of  the  average  bookkeeper.  And 
you  know  what  those  are.  They  are  small. 

If  you  ask,  Is  not  the  profession  of  engineer  crowded.''  I 
say,  yes  it  is.  And  why  should  n't  it  be?  It  is  an  attractive 
field.  There  are  many  opportunities  —  and  the  opportuni- 
ties exist  for  the  boy  or  girl  without  a  college  training,  not 
to  the  same  degree,  perhaps,  as  for  the  boy  or  girl  with  col- 
lege training,  but  certainly  to  a  hopeful  degree.  We  hear  it 
said  that  for  college  men  there  is  more  and  more  demand. 
Of  course,  after  the  high-school  graduate  gets  his  job,  the 
question  of  success  depends  upon  himself,  but  I  believe  that 
any  teacher  who  looks  at  the  thing  from  the  standpoint  of 
general  mental  ability,  loyalty,  mutual  helpfulness,  keenness 
in  analysis,  ability  to  distinguish  between  the  essential  and 
the  trivial,  I  can  say  that  such  a  boy's  chances  for  advance- 
ment are  very  hopeful. 

THE  BUILDING  TRADES 

The  question  you  are  interested  in,  I  take  it,  is  the  infor- 
mation necessary  in  order  to  advise  a  particular  boy  intelli- 
gently in  the  matter  of  taking  up  the  building  trades.  There 
are  only  a  limited  number  of  things  that  any  boy  can  do. 
He  can  go  into  the  mechanical  industry,  or  he  can  go  into 
commerce  or  transportation,  or  some  of  the  professions. 
The  first  question  for  him  to  decide  is.  Which  of  these  am  I 
best  fitted  for?  If  he  has  mechanical  ability  to  any  degree 
at  all  this  fact  is  true,  —  that  he  has  practically  as  good  an 
opportunity  either  in  some  sort  of  mechanical  industry  or 
in  the  building  trades  as  in  any  other  one  of  the  fields  that  I 
could  mention.  The  building  trades  have  been  growing  and 
developing  with  surprising  rapidity  for  the  last  decade  or 
two,  and  there  is  every  indication  that  they  are  going  to  in 
the  future.  So  it  is  wise  for  the  boy  to  consider  seriously 
entering  some  kind  of  occupation  where  he  vnW  have  the 
opportunity  to  use  his  mechanical  ability. 

The  next  question  is,  How  shall  we  find  out  whether  any 
particular  boy  has  an  aptitude  for  mechanical  work  or  not? 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL  235 

Fortunately,  this  is  a  thing  that  is  usually  easy  to  fleterminc. 
Almost  any  hoy  hegins  us  a  cliiltl  to  show  a  constructive  ten- 
dency if  he  has  mechanical  al>ility.  lie  likes  to  build  things, 
to  put  things  together.  He  likes  to  create  things  on  a  small 
scale,  in  his  boyish  way,  in  much  the  same  manner  that  his 
father  and  his  elders  build  things  and  construct  things  in  a 
substantial  and  real  way.  Observe  the  boy  in  his  boyhood 
and  judge  if  he  has  natural  structural  ability.  It  is  probably 
easier  to  determine  this  than  to  determine  almost  any  other 
of  his  natural  capacities.  If  he  does  show  these  indications 
it  is  wise  to  consider  seriously  his  entering  some  Ihie  of 
mechanical  work. 

Now  the  kind  of  mechanical  work  he  shall  do  will  depend 
very  largely  on  how  the  boy  is  circumstanced.  If  he  has  the 
intellectual  power,  in  addition  to  the  mechanical  gift,  to  go 
on  with  his  school  training,  and  if  he  is  so  situated  in  his 
home  surroundings  that  it  is  possi])le  for  him  to  continue 
his  training,  the  proper  thing  for  that  boy  to  do  is  to  go  on 
through  the  high  school  and  into  college  or  technical  school 
and  get  a  thorough  engineering  training,  with  the  hope  of  en- 
tering into  the  important  positions  in  mechanical  industry. 
He  may  go  into  architecture,  or  mechanical  engineering,  or 
electrical  engineering,  or  what  not.  Wliich  one  it  will  be  he 
can  determine  later.  The  decision  which  he  should  make 
early  is,  whether  he  shall  continue  his  school  work  into  the 
high  school,  with  the  idea  of  getting  a  college  training.  Of 
course  that  will  depend,  in  its  tiirn,  upon  his  own  and  his 
family's  circumtances  and  upon  his  intellectual  power.  As  a 
rule  it  is  fairly  easy  to  determine  how  far  a  boy  who  is  going 
into  mechanical  work  shall  continue  his  school  training,  his 
preparation  for  industrial  work.  Just  as  soon  as  you  know 
accurately  his  home  conditions,  his  parents'  means,  and  his 
own  progress  and  attainment  in  his  school  work,  you  can 
judge  pretty  well  whether  this  particular  boy  is  likely  to  be 
able  to  stay  in  school  until  he  is  twenty -two  or  twenty-three 
or  twenty-foiir  years  old.  Granted  that  he  has  the  o])i)ortu- 
nity  to  stay  in  school  and  get  the  thorough  prei>aration,  the 
chances  are  about  ninety-nine  out  of  a  hundred  that  it  is 
the  wise  thing  for  him  to  do.  There  may  be  exceptions,  but 


236  SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 

I  think  the  chances  are  as  great  as  ninety-nine  out  of  a 
hnndred  that  it  is  wise,  because  the  mechanical  industries 
and  the  building  trades  are  getting  each  year  more  and  more 
complicated.  There  are  more  and  more  kinds  of  material 
that  are  being  used,  more  and  more  ways  in  which  those  ma- 
terials are  put  together.  Therefore  scientific  knowledge  and 
systematic  methods  are  more  and  more  essential.  The  boy 
cannot  get  too  much  training  as  a  background  for  his  work. 

Suppose,  on  the  other  hand,  he  is  a  l)oy  who  is  forced  to  go 
to  work  when  he  is  fourteen  or  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  must 
get  along  as  best  he  can  under  those  conditions.  If  he  is 
going  into  mechanical  work  I  would  again  urge  that  one  of 
the  essential  things  for  that  boy  to  get  in  mind  is  the  neces- 
sity of  training  for  something  more  than  just  the  muscles  of 
his  arm,  the  skill  of  his  fingertips.  He  has  got  to  train  himself 
in  mechanical  intelligence.  Fortunately,  there  are  abundant 
opportunities  in  Boston  for  such  a  boy,  who  is  obliged  to  go 
to  work  in  the  daytime,  to  get  supplementary  tiaining  in 
the  evening  schools  in  the  particular  line  which  is  his  choice. 

The  boy  starting  in  at  sixteen  years  of  age  has  compara- 
tively few  opportunities  for  employment  excepting  as  an 
apprentice  and  a  helper  of  one  sort  or  another.  He  does  n't 
get  a  chance  to  commence  to  work  with  tools.  His  employer 
cannot  trust  him  with  them  until  he  has  had  years  of  experi- 
ence in  the  kind  of  work  that  he  is  going  to  take  up.  So  that 
it  is  all  the  more  necessary  for  him  to  have  somebody  on  the 
outside,  apart  from  his  employer,  guiding  him  and  directing 
him. 

Also,  he  has  got  to  make  his  decision  between  two  general 
types  of  mechanical  work:  He  must  choose  between  the 
building  branch  and  the  manufacturing  branch.  Each  has 
its  advantages,  and  each,  perhaps,  its  drawbacks.  In  gen- 
eral, if  he  gets  started  in  the  manufacturing  trades  the  chance 
of  his  finding  continuous,  settled  employment  for  all  the 
months  of  the  year  will  be  better  than  in  the  building  trades. 
In  the  latter  work  continuous  employment  under  one  em- 
ployer is  generally  a  difficult  thing  to  secure.  In  the  former 
work  there  is  more  likelihood  of  his  getting  continuous 
employment.  On  the  other  hand,  if  he  looks  at  the  matter  of 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL  237 

wages,  the  meelianic  in  the  l)uil(liiig  trades  as  a  nile  receives 
u  much  higher  rule  of  wage  than  the  niechuiiic  in  the  manu- 
facturing branch  does,  thougii  in  the  long  run  the  two  otlset 
one  another. 

But,  aside  from  the  question  of  continuous  emi)loYment 
and  the  rate  of  wages,  there  is  one  tiling  that  I  would  ask 
you  to  rcnjemher  i)articularly  and  to  jjoint  out  to  young  men 
whom  you  have  occasion  to  counsel,  and  that  is,  not  so  much 
the  question  of  the  immediate  advantage  of  one  tyi)e  of  work 
over  another,  as  tlie  ultinuite  goal  to  which  one  class  of  posi- 
tions or  another  class  of  positions  may  lead.   I  don't  like  the 
term  position  very  well  because  it  suggests  something  that  is 
stationary.   Instead  I  like  to  think  of  these  lines  of  work  as 
pathways  that  lead  somewhere.   It  is  true  that  some  of  them 
don't  appear  to  lead  to  any  definite  future,  and  a  good  deal 
has  been  said  and  written  on  the  subject  of  so-called  "dead- 
end" positions;  but  my  observation  is  that  tliese  are  ex- 
tremely rare,  for  you  come  across  very  much  more  f  rcciuently 
a  "dead-end"  boy  that  has  n't  the  ambition  or  has  n't  the 
vitality  to  climb  than  you  come  across  a  position  which 
does  n't  offer  opi)ortuniti(>s  to  the  boy  who  has  the  vision  to 
see  the  future  that  is  in  front  of  him,  and  the  perseverance 
to  climb  step  by  step. 

Because  of  the  conditions  which  I  spoke  of  a  moment  ago, 
namely  the  uncertainty  of  employment,  as  soon  as  a  boy 
finishes  a  job  on  one  building,  the  chances  are  that  he  has  got 
to  look  for  a  new  one  on  some  other  building.  He  finds  his 
life  almost  of  necessity  a  roving  life,  from  job  to  job,  from 
employer  to  employer.  This  condition  requires  an  iniusual 
degree  of  j)erseveranee,  an  luiusual  tlegree  of  skill  in  hnding 
new  situations,  in  adjusting  one's  self  to  the  uncertainty  of 
business  and  the  hurly-burly  of  the  siu-vival  of  the  fittest. 
The  slow,  plodding,  ])ersevering  boy,  for  that  reason,  is 
often,  under  such  circumstances,  left  behind,  where  the  same 
quality  might  be  of  great  value  to  him  in  enabling  him  to  rise 
slowly,  step  by  step,  in  some  kind  of  a  iH)sitii)U  wIumv  he  had 
the  o]>])()rlmiity  before  him  of  working  continuously,  mouth 
in  and  month  out,  year  in  and  year  out,  luider  the  same 
employer,  who  could  plan  work  for  liim  in  advance. 


238  SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 

An  accurate  survey  of  the  building  trades  in  Boston  to-day 
would  show  a  very  small  percentage  of  American  boys  enter- 
ing the  building  trades.  It  would  also  find  a  rather  surpris- 
ingly small  percentage  of  skilled  mechanics  in  the  building 
trades  who  had  learned  their  trades  in  this  country.  To  a 
very  large  degree,  though  not  exclusively,  the  building  trades 
are  recruited  from  men  who  have  learned  their  trade  in 
Europe  and  who  have  come  over  here  at  times  of  special 
stress  and  have  stayed  here  because  of  the  higher  rate  of 
wages.  The  statistics  of  our  immigration  show  a  very  large 
number  of  persons  entering  into  this  country  every  year. 
Newspapers  give  us  these  figures,  and  we  are  surprised  at 
the  great  multitude  crossing  the  ocean,  especially  in  the 
spring.  As  a  rule  comparatively  little  is  said  in  the  news- 
papers about  the  current  going  the  other  way;  and  as  an 
actual  fact,  during  the  last  three  months,  a  very  large  per- 
centage of  the  number  of  people  who  crossed  as  immigrants 
last  spring  have  been  returning  to  their  homes  in  Europe. 
It  is  this  passing  back  and  forth  between  Europe  and 
America  that  supplies  the  varying  demand  for  mechanics  in 
a  good  many  of  our  building  trades  throughout  the  whole  of 
the  East  and  to  some  extent  as  far  West  as  the  Mississippi 
River. 

I  have  described  in  a  general  way  the  situation  as  I  find  it. 
In  each  one  of  the  different  branches  of  the  trade  there  is  a 
splendid  opportunity  not  only  to  get  good  positions  and  a 
living  at  the  start,  but  in  each  one  of  them  there  is  a  pathway 
that  leads  on  and  up,  and  the  boy  who  has  perseverance 
and  ambition  has  a  better  opportunity  even  than  skilled 
mechanics. 

THE   PROFESSION   OF   THE  ARCHITECT 

...  It  is  a  satisfying  profession.  ...  I  have  never  re- 
gretted through  fair  or  foul  weather  the  decision  that  I  then 
made  to  be  an  architect.  ...  I  remember  a  further  inquiry 
which  I  made,  because  it  throws  a  side  light  on  the  profession. 
I  was  talking  to  two  members  of  a  firm,  and  I  said,  'I  sup- 
pose an  architect  has  to  have  a  certain  skill  in  drawing."  In 


SUGGESTI\T  MATEIIIAL  239 

that  case  it  took  two  of  them  to  make  an  architect  l)ecause 
one  had  no  skill  in  drawing.  Do  not  tell  your  pupils  you  don't 
need  to  know  how  to  draw. 

I  suppose  you  want  to  know  what  an  arcliitect  is.  Books 
say  architecture  is  decorative  construction.  An  arcliitect, 
therefore,  is  a  designer  of  decorative  construction.  I  prefer 
to  say  a  designer  of  appropriate  construction.  ...  I  mean 
the  architect  must  have  a  sense  of  fitness,  a  sense  of  the 
requirements  of  his  building  so  that  he  will  design  a  construc- 
tion tliat  meets  those  requirements,  that  covdd  not  equally 
well  meet  another  set  of  requirements.  lie  is  helped  in  this 
by  the  architectural  development  of  the  age.  ...  A  ques- 
tion that  is  often  asked  is,  why  should  n't  women  be  archi- 
tects? They  are  not  naturally  in  close  touch  with  building 
materials  and  those  that  make  use  of  them.  They  can  be 
architects,  —  some  few  are,  —  but  they  are  much  more  nat- 
urally conversant  witli  the  materials  of  interior  decoration, 
with  textiles,  with  pai)er,  and  their  keen  color  sense  makes  it 
easy  for  them  to  produce  happj'  results.  ...  As  an  archi- 
tect not  only  thinks  in  terms  of  building  materials,  but 
studies  the  fitness  of  expression  that  must  l)e  achieved  in  his 
building,  he  knows  more  or  less  —  generally  less  —  of  the 
historic  architecture  of  all  countries.  He  has,  at  least,  an  idea 
of  former  civilizations.  He  has  a  very  definite  idea  of  civili- 
zations of  to-day  and  their  material  and  spiritual  require- 
ments. It  goes  without  saying  that  a  building  that  woidtl  be 
suitable  for  a  church  in  Germany  would  not  be  suitable  for 
a  church  in  northern  California. 

In  appealing  to  children  I  think  you  must  not  be  too 
definite  in  your  own  minds  as  to  the  common  figures  regard- 
ing the  profession.  I  don't  know  whether  architecture  is  a 
profitable  i)rofession  or  not.  I  suj)])ose  peoi)le  make  a  living 
by  it  or  there  woidd  not  still  continue  to  be  architects.  I 
know  the  standard  of  attainment  in  the  i)r()fession  was  never 
higher  than  it  is  to-day.  .  .  .  But  I  know  it  is  not  a  jirofes- 
sion  in  which  it  is  easy  to  work  uj)  from  the  ranks.  ...  I 
speak  of  this  because  if  you  have  high-school  i)n|)ils  in  your 
charge  you  may  very  \\ell  direct  them  toward  tradesmansliii). 
They  may  learn  drafting  .  .  .  init  it  would  n't  constitute 


240  SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 

training  necessary  for  an  architect.  In  the  offices  in  England 
it  is  a  common  thing  to  find  draftsmen  who  liave  taken  up 
draftsmanship  as  a  profession  and  never  expect  to  get  be- 
yond it.  The  Americans  are  more  ambitious.  Usually  in  an 
American  office  there  will  be  young  men  who  aspire  to  get 
experience  which  will  enable  them  to  oj^en  offices  of  their 
own,  and  that  makes  them  from  the  outset  interested  in 
architecture  as  a  whole  rather  than  a  form  of  building.  .  .  . 
The  draftsman  who  is  chiefly  a  designer  of  decoration  is  not 
necessarily  in  sympathy  with  the  materials  in  which  his 
ideas  will  be  worked  out.  There  is  a-  type  of  architectural 
draftsman  whom  you  cannot  drag  away  from  the  drawing- 
board.  .  .  .  So,  as  I  was  saying,  there  is  a  t^'pe  content  with 
the  drawing-board,  but  not  ambitious  to  design  a  building 
and  see  it  built.  No  architect  that  I  know  of  is  ever  satisfied 
with  the  second  place  in  the  competition  to  say  nothing  of 
the  emoluments  .  .  .  although  we  know  very  well  that  not 
everything  we  draw  is  sure  to  be  realized  in  material. 

As  you  probably  know,  when  a  boy  goes  into  an  office 
knowing  very  little  except  what  he  has  learned  in  school,  he 
generally  has  to  learn  the  alphabet.  When  we  put  him  to 
calling  people  on  the  telephone  we  find  he  does  n't  know  it, 
and  his  greatest  difficulty  for  the  next  few  weeks  is  to  study 
that  — •  at  least,  that  is  the  exjjcrience  with  those  who  come 
into  my  office.  ...  A  boy  gets  $5  or  $6  a  week  running 
errands,  tending  the  telephone,  and  making  tracings  of  full- 
sized  drawings.  Those  are  the  principal  duties  of  a  boy  in 
an  architect's  office.  The  tracings  are  his  opportunity  for  his 
growth.  A  boy  ought  never  to  draw  a  line  the  meaning  of 
which  he  does  not  understand,  and  if  the  office  is  well  organ- 
ized, he  will  not  be  long  in  finding  the  meaning  of  the  lines. 
.  .  .  From  the  tracings  he  comes  in  time  —  sometimes  a 
year  or  two  —  to  making  simple  drawings  from  scale  him- 
self. .  .  .  When  a  boy  can  do  what  is  called  quarter-scale 
drawing,  he  may  be  worth  $8  or  $12  a  week.  ...  In  a  few 
years  more,  especially  if  he  makes  use  of  liis  evenings,  he  will 
get  so  that  a  building  of  some  importance  can  be  worked  out 
by  him  from  the  architect's  sketches,  with  oversight.  If  he 
shows  good  taste  and  good  judgment,  he  will  gradually  come 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL  ^41 

to  be  worth  $18  or  $20  a  week.  (I  am  speaking  of  Boston 
now.)  .  .  .  The  boy  who  has  found  his  work,  who  is  intor- 
ested  in  design,  who  sLiuhes  at  night,  or  better  still,  in  the 
afternoon  in  one  of  the  technical  schools,  is  fitting  himself 
by  learning  what  he  is  less  likely  to  be  able  to  learn  in  the 
office,  that  is  the  theory  of  design.  .  .  .  Design  alone  is  not 
sufficient  equipment.  .  .  .  The  Boston  Public  Library  .  .  . 
is  an  illustration  of  the  right  kind  of  buihling  .  .  .  and  sig- 
nificant example  as  it  is  of  the  effective  use  of  building 
material,  I  assure  you  that  that  building  would  look  almost 
ordinary  if  executed  in  conuuou  brick. 

Q.  Wiat  arc  the  problems  of  a  beginner  who  does  not  get 
into  an  office  and  tries  to  build  up  a  practice.' 

A.  In  this  community  I  think  it  is  pretty  hard  for  an 
architect  to  get  work  unless  he  has  acquaintances  and 
friends.  It  is  a  small  profession  and  most  Boston  architects 
Avould  agree  it  is  overcrowded.  It  is  not  the  place  to  begin 
unless  a  man  has  excellent  technical  training  and  a  good 
many  friends.  .  .  . 

TRAINED  NURSING 


"Nursing  is  a  most  natural,  useful,  and  fascinating  occu- 
pation for  women." 

Handicaps  which  deter  many  girls  from  entering  the  pro- 
fession :  — 

Long  hours. 

Poor  food. 

Short  working  life. 

Military  discipline. 

Mothers,  teachers,  and  pastors  all  fight  against  having  a 
girl  enter. 

They  are  trying  to  correct  these  handicaps  and  are  suc- 
ceeding; one  girl  in  a  lumdred  regrets  taking  up  the  work, 
and  there  are  gnvit  compensations  for  the  disadvantages. 
They  are  also  trying  to  direct  the  attention  of  a  better  class 
of  girls  to  this  vocation. 


242  SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 

Qualifications  necessary:  — 

"All  qualifications  which  would  make  a  first-class  teacher 
would  make  a  first-class  nurse." 

Warmth  of  disposition. 

Kindness  of  heart. 

Willingness  to  work  with  hands. 

Attractive  appearance. 

Alert  mind. 

A  girl  who  likes  to  help  her  mother;  loves  to  make  people 
comfortable;  never  runs  away  from  the  sick  and  is  kind  to  all 
suffering  things  makes  the  best  nurse. 

Educational  preparation:  — 

Latin  almost  essential  on  account  of  medical  terms. 
Good  English  absolutely  necessary. 
Good  spelling  and  writing. 
Anatomy  and  physiology. 

Courses  in  college  or  nursing  preparatory  course. 
Chemistry. 

Preparatory  course  given  at  Teachers'  College,  Columbia 
University,  and  at  Simmons  College. 

Advantages  offered  by  hospitals:  — 

Massachusetts  General:  eight-hour  system;  fifty-six  hours 
a  week.  Good  food  and  pleasant  home  life.  Good  opportuni- 
ties for  graduates.  A  candidate  may  visit  the  school  to  inves- 
tigate and  find  out  the  curriculum.  Nurses  are  cared  for  if  ill. 
Could  place  all  graduates,  opportunities  increasing  daily. 

Salaries:  — 

Private  nurses:  $25  a  week  with  living  expenses.  Equiva- 
lent to  institutional  position  at  $600  a  year. 

In  institutions,  $40  to  $7o  a  month,  or  experience  may 
bring  as  much  as  $150. 

Superintendent  of  training-school,  $125  to  $150  a  month. 

Head  nurses,  $40  (about). 

School,  district,  and  social  welfare  nurses,  $40  to  $65.  In 
Philadelphia,  $1800  a  year. 

Regular  vacations,  and  opportunities  to  rest  at  night.  Not 
all  work  easy,  but  all  interesting. 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL  243 

Graduates  in  1910  and  1911:  — 

20  in  institutions. 

10  in  jirivate  work. 

3  anaesthetists. 

1  nurse  in  laboratory. 

1  social  worker  ($75  per  month), 

1  district  nurse  ($70  per  month). 

1  nurse  instructor  ($GJ  per  mouth). 

Entrance  examinations:  — 

Arithmetic,  fractions,  and  percentage. 

Age  limit  being  abandoned:  prefer  candidate  of  twenty- 
one  years,  but  will  take  girls  from  eighteen  to  twenty.  Girl 
ought  to  enter  school  which  will  make  her  eligible  to  national 
Red  Cross  organization.  Call  coming  for  candidates  who  can 
teach;  in  schools,  settlements,  etc.  Good  health  necessary 
for  girls  who  enter.  Period  of  training  is  three  years.  In  some 
schools  tuition  or  fee  is  charged.  In  others  small  allowance  is 
made  to  cover  cost  of  uniform  and  books.  Living  expenses 
are  given,  with  a  few  exceptions. 

n 

Hard  for  nurses  to  save  anytliing,  but  institutional  nurses 
have  more  chance  to  than  private  ones.  Popularity  of  private 
nursing  decreasing.  Position  as  nurse  in  doctor's  office  pays 
best.  Increasing  call  for  nurses  in  tuberculosis  cases,  and 
for  those  who  can  teach  mothers  and  prevent  infant  mortal- 
ity. Demand  for  district  nurses  greater  than  supply. 

Social  standing,  good;  better  than  formerly:  move  in  good 
society  and  apt  to  marry  well. 

Training  schools:  some  are  frauds,  and  one  should  be  care- 
ful in  choosing.   Few  salaried  instructors. 

Not  a  dangerous  trade.  No  person  with  organic  disease 
admitted.  Candidates  apt  to  improve  in  health.  Work, 
twelve  hours  a  day. 

At  Massachusetts  General  a  high-school  education  or 
equivalent  is  required.  Standards  are  going  up  all  the  time. 
To-day  less  faith  in  use  of  drugs;  more  in  nursing. 


IV 


EXAMPLE  OF  OCCUPATIONAL  STUDY  FOR  THE 
USE  OF  THE  LONDON  JU\^ENILE  LABOR 
EXCHANGES 

Conditions  of  Juvenile  Employment  in  Steam 

Laundries 

The  number  of  persons  employed  in  the  County  of  Lon- 
don, according  to  the  latest  Factory  and  Workshop  Returns 
made  for  1907,  in  steam  laundries  and  in  hand  laundries 
under  the  Factory  and  Workshop  Act  is  shown  in  the  follow- 
ing table :  — 

Comity  of  London,  1907  —  Laundries 


Works  and  depart- 
ments 

Male  persons  employed 

Female  persons  employed 

87 
13 

ll 

18  and 
upwards 

11 

as 

05  5- 

OB 

"c'o 
"S  S 

Factories 555 

Workshops 1,037 

171 
23 

1,781 
323 

2,039 
359 

816 
81 

1,541 

225 

15,653 
7,631 

18,010 
7,937 

The  number  of  young  persons  employed  in  hand  laundries 
is  obviously  too  small  for  any  inquiry  vdih.  regard  to  them 
to  be  profitable  in  connection  with  juvenile  employment, 
except  in  so  far  as  they  might  offer  facilities  for  training  in 
high-class  laundry  work  for  a  limited  number  of  hours  and 
days  a  week.  The  inquiry  has,  therefore,  been  restricted  to 
steam  laundries. 

Liformation  was  obtained  with  regard  to  150  steam  laun- 
dries employing  over  12,000  persons,  or  an  average  of  80 
persons  per  laundry.   The  405  steam  laundries  not  visited, 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERLVL 


24." 


or  giving  only  vague  information, in  nearly  all  cases  employefl 
less  than  '■25  j)ersons  in  1907.  Of  tlic  1.50  firms  giving  infor- 
mation tabulated  in  this  report.  111)  were  visited  hy  Miss 
Woodgate  and  31  by  Miss  Gladys  M.  Broughton.  Detailed 
reports  of  their  visits  have  been  furnished  to  the  Secretary 
of  the  London  Juvenile  Advisory  Committee. 

The  largest  number  of   well-construeled    laundries   was 
found  in  South  London. 


Number  of  persons  employed  hy  firms  giving  information 
grouped  under  the  Labor  Exchange  areas  visited 


Labor  Exchange  area 


Clapham  Junction 

CamherAvc'll 

Elephant 

Other  areas  south  of  Thames. 

Shepherd's  Hush 

Walham  Green 

Hackney 

Islington 

Other  areas  north  of  Thames 

Total 


Number  employed 
by  firms  giving  in- 
formation 


2,214 
2,073 
1,071 

896 
1,466 
1,446 
1,393 
1,008 

588 


12,155 


Percentage  of  total 
employed  by  firms 
giving  information 


18.2 

17.0 

8.8 

7.4 

12.1 

11.9 

11.5 

8.3 

4.8 


100 


The  number  of  boys  employed  in  steam  laundries  is  very 
small.  A  few  are  taken  on  at  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  of  age 
as  van-boys,  and  occa.sionally  they  become  van  drivers 
later  on.  A  few  boys  of  sixteen  or  more  are  employed  in  the 
wash-house,  beginning  as  hydro-extractor  boys  and  then  mov- 
ing on  to  washing  machines.  Wash-house  work  is  hea^•^•,  and 
few  vacancies  occur.  Men  washers  earn  u.sually  from  23s.  to 
30s.,  and  van-men  from  2'2s.  to  28«.  They  are  usually 
recruited  from  other  trades. 

The  number  of  men  engaged  in  hand  laundries  is  larger 
than  ap])cars  from  the  returns,  as  thi>  emjiloyers  are  fre- 
quently husband  and  wife,  and  both  engaged  in  the  manual 
work  of  the  lainidrv  themselves. 


246 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 


For  reasons  wliich  will  be  examined  later  on  the  proportion 
of  young  girls  in  the  laundry  trade  is  exceptionally  small,  and 
many  laundries  dislike  employing  any  under  sixteen  years 
of  age.  The  factory  returns  show  an  average  of  less  than  two 
girls  imder  sixteen  per  steam  laundry.  Learners,  therefore, 
were  frequently  found  to  be  between  16  and  18  and  in  some 
cases  over  eighteen  years  of  age. 


Number   of 
work-people 
employed  by 
firms  giving 
information 

Percentage  of 

total  employed 

by  firms  giving 

information 

Learnergto  100 
persons  em- 
ployed 

With  no  learners 

Stating  number  of  learners.  . .  . 
Not  stating  number  of  learners 

1,763 
6.909 
3,483 

14.5 

56.8 

28.7 

0 

7 
Not  stated. 

Total 

12,155 

100 

Girls  are  engaged  as  calender  workers,  hand  ironers,  shirt 
and  collar  machine  ironers,  packers  and  sorters,  and  in  vari- 
ous miscellaneous  jobs  such  as  "shaking  out,"  "trotting," 
etc. 

The  least  skilled  work,  on  which  these  girl  learners  can 
at  once  receive  wages,  is  taking  the  articles  as  they  pass  out 
at  the  back  of  the  calender.  The  most  skilled  is  hand  ironing, 
which  is  rarely  taught  in  steam  laundries  to  girls  under 
sixteen. 

Wages  of  learners.  The  difference  with  regard  to  skill  re- 
quired, shown  by  the  initial  wage  of  the  learner,  is  indicated  in 
the  table  at  the  top  of  page  247.  Disregarding  a  first  week's 
trial  for  nothing  the  following  initial  rates  were  paid. 

In  many  cases  hand  ironers  gave  three  months  for  nothing, 
being  taught  by  a  skilled  ironer  who  received  anything  they 
earned,  and  were  afterwards  put  on  piecework. 

Wages  in  second  and  third  years.  The  different  ages  at 
which  beginners  are  taken  on  make  it  impossible  for  any 
fixed  rules  to  be  made  with  regard  to  increases  in  rates  of 
pay.  A  strong  girl  of  seventeen  or  eighteen  will  earn  much 
more  in  her  second  and  third  years  than  young  girls  of  four- 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 


247 


Percentage}  of  work-people '  employed  by  firvhs  paying  the 
specified  initial  weekly  wages  to  learners 


Initial  weekly  wages 

Calender  workers 

Packer*  and  sorters 

Uand  ironeri 

Nil 

1.0 

.5.8 
10.8 
17.0 
48.1 
11.3 

29.8 
3.1 
4.9 

15.6 
7.2 

38.3 
1.1 

49.7 

Under  2a 

2.1.  and  under  3.? 

3s.          "         4s 

4s.           "         5s 

5s.          "         fis 

6s.  and  upwards 

6.2 

24.1 

14.3 

3.2 

2.5 

Total 

100 

100 

100 

Number  of  work-peo- 
ple^   employed   by 
firms  giving  infor- 
mation. 

6735 

7170 

5203 

tocii  or  fifteen.  Nor  i.s  it  the  custom  for  a  girl  to  .stay  at  the 
branch  which  .she  may  have  started  on.  After  the  first  few 
months  she  finds  out  what  .slie  prefers  and  the  vacancies  con- 
stantly created  in  a  trade  employing  such  a  large  proportion 
of  adult  women  give  her  good  chances  of  going  on  to  skilled 
work. 

The  Board  of  Trade  Wages  Inquiry  for  1906  showed  that 
in  London  Steam  Laundries  of  girls  under  18  working  full 
time:  — 


Cnlenderers 

Receivers,  markers,  sorters, 

anil  packers 

Hand  ironers  (piece) 

Machine  ironers 


25  per  ccni 
earned 

35  per  cent 
earned 

5s.  or  less 

5s.  or  less 
7s.  or  less 
4s.  or  less 

5s.  to  6s. 

5s.  to  f)S. 
7s.  to  8s. 
4s.  to  Gs. 

25  per  cent 
earned 


s.  to  7s. 

s.  to  8s. 
8s.  to  9s.  lid. 
Gs.  to  Ss. 


25  per  cent 
earned 


7s.  and  upwards. 

8s. 

9s.  Od.      " 

8». 


As  stated  above  the  hand  ironers  on  piecework  would  gen- 
erally have  served  about  three  months  for  nothing  or  for  a 
small  time  wage. 

•  Total  number  irrespective  of  occupation. 


248 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 


Range  of  earnings  of  competent  workers.  Except  in  the  case 
of  hand  honers,  either  day  wages  or  weekly  wages  are  cus- 
tomary in  laundries.  Ironers  engaged  on  work  requiring 
especial  care  are  also  paid  by  the  week,  day,  or  hour,  and 
machine  ironers  are  sometimes  paid  by  piece. 

Some  difficulty  arises  in  comparing  wages  from  the  fact 
that  in  different  branches  the  length  of  the  customarj'  week 
may  be  different.  Packers  and  sorters  are  generally  engaged 
the  whole  of  the  week.  Ironers  frecjuently  only  begin  on 
Tuesday  and  often  finish  on  Friday. 

In  the  Board  of  Trade  Wages  Inquiry  those  working  at 
least  five  days  a  week  were  counted  as  working  full  time. 
The  ranges  of  earnings  of  these  full-time  workers  in  London 
are  given  below :  — 


Percentage  of  adult  women  {full  timers)  whose  earnings  for  a 
given  week  fell  tuithin  the  undermentioned  limits  —  1906 


Limits  of  earnings  of  women 
IS  years  and  upwards 

Calcnderers 
Time 

Band  ironers 
Piece 

Receivers,  markers, 

sorters,  packers 

Time 

Under  10s 

35.0 

60.7 

4.1 

0.2 

13.0 

55.8 

26.8 

4.0 

0.4 

9.6 

lOs.  and  under  15s  . . . 
15s.           "         20s ..  . 
20s.           "         25s... 
25s.  and  upwards .... 

41.3 

36.9 

11.4 

0.8 

Total 

100 

100 

100 

Number   included    in 
returns 

509 

1737 

613 

These  returns  for  1906  may  be  compared  with  the  state- 
ments as  to  maximum  rates  earned  in  different  branches 
made  by  employers  visited  in  1911-12. 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 


249 


Percentage  of  persons  employed  by  firms  paying  the  undermen- 
tioned maximum  rates  to  specified  classes  of  workers  — 
1911-12 


Maximum  rates 

Calenderers 

lland 
ironera 

Receivers, 

markcr.H,  tortert, 

and  packer! 

Under  10.?    . 

0.4 

89.9 

9.7 

2.7 
27.3 
43.4 
2G.G 

10*.  aod  under  ISs 

34 

15s.           "         203 

32.1 

20s.          "         25s 

39.2 

25s.  and  upwards 

25  3 

Total 

100 

100 

100 

Total  number  of  persons  in 
all  branches  employed  by 
firms  giving  information .  . 

8391 

7552 

10362 

The  statements  conveyed  in  the  last  table  may  be  summed 
up:  — 

(1)  The  most  competent  calender  workers  rarely  reach 
15s.  a  week. 

(2)  Competent  hand  ironers,  packers,  and  sorters  can 
practically  always  earn  15*.  a  week,  and  in  laundries  employ- 
ing one  fourth  of  the  work-people  covered  by  the  reports  can 
rise  to  25s.  and  upwards. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  whereas  the  table  of  maximum  rates 
paid  gives  a  rather  better  position  to  hand  ironers  than  to 
packers  and  sorters,  the  table  of  actual  earnings  gives  a 
better  position  to  packers  and  sorters. 

This  is  explained  by  the  much  greater  irregularity  in  the 
hours  observed  by  many  of  the  ironers,  who  are  often  mar- 
ried women,  and  the  number  of  cases  in  which  "full  time" 
for  ironers  includes  only  five  days. 

The  percentage  of  women  over  eighteen  who  earned  less 
than  10.?.  is  very  largely  due  to  the  number  of  adult  women 
who  enter  the  laundries  as  beginners. 

Hours  of  work.    All  the  laundries  visited  were  organized 


250 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 


according  to  one  of  two  of  the  systems  allowed  by  the  Fac- 
tory and  Workshop  Act,  1907. 

Nearly  all  laundries  are  kept  running  the  full  time  per- 
mitted them,  but  in  the  large  majority  of  cases  only  certain 
sections  of  the  workers  are  actually  at  work  during  the  whole 
period. 

The  laundries  which  choose  the  system  which  allows  them 
to  work  from  8  a.m.  until  9  p.m.  on  Wednesday,  Thursday, 
and  Friday  every  week  begin  work  at  11  a.m.  on  Mondays 
and  close  at  4  p.m.  on  Saturdays. 

The  laundries  which  choose  the  system  which  allows  them 
to  work  from  8  a.m.  to  8  p.m.  on  ordinary  days  and  8  a.m.  to 
4  p.m.  on  Saturday  are  allowed  to  work  one  hour  later  on  not 
more  than  four  days,  other  than  Saturday,  in  any  one  week, 
and  not  more  than  sixty  days  in  any  calendar  year. 

Under  both  systems  young  persons  must  always  cease 
work  at  8  p.m.  at  the  latest. 


Percentage  oj  the  total  number  of  work-people  in  all  branches 
eviployed  in  laundries  where  the  understated  hours  were 
worked  in  an  ordinary  week  by  the  specified  groups  of 
workers. 


Hours  per  week  exclusive 
of  mealtimes 

Adult 
packers 

and 
sorters 

Juvenile 
packers 

and 
sorters 

Adidt 
calender 
workers 

Juvenile 
calender 
workers 

Adult 
ironers 

Juvenile 
ironers 

Under  45 

45  and  under  47^ 

47i        "         50  

60          "          52i  

S^i        "          55  

65           "          57i  

57h        "          60  

60 

0.3 

0.8 

5.4 

3.6 

14.4 

15.4 

17.9 

42.2 

0.5 

7.0 

3.5 

16.8 

34.8 

8.1 

29.3 

2.3 

1.3 

3.2 

8.7 

17.5 

12.8 

18.0 

36.2 

2.3 

0.4 

6.7 

4.4 

20.1 

28.7 

10.2 

27.2 

11.6 

21.2 

30.2 

9.1 

11.4 

10.5 

5.0 

1.0 

17.7 

27.8 

25.7 

1.6 

11.9 

10.8 

3.8 

0.7 

Total 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

Number   of  persons   in 
all       branches      em- 
ployed by  firms  giv- 
ing information 

10895 

9379 

10825 

9368 

7320 

5722 

The  packers  and  sorters  are  those  who  are  the  first  to 
begin  and  the  last  to  finish.  Sometimes  calender  workers  not 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL  2.^1 

required  at  the  calenders  are  exj>ccted  to  "clean  up"  on 
Mondays  or  Saturdays.  As  these  are  the  two  deparlnients  in 
wliicli  young  i)ersons  are  the  most  readily  eiuplcned,  this 
means  tliat  young  j)ersons  are  often  employed  longer  hours 
per  week  than  many  adults. 

The  numl)er  of  young  persons  engaged  as  ironers  is  very 
small,  and  it  can  he  seen  from  these  tables  that  in  laundries 
employing  more  than  two  thirds  of  the  work-people  covered 
by  the  reports,  young  persons  employed  as  calender  workers, 
packers,  and  sorters  worked  fifty -five  hours  and  ui)wards; 
and  that  in  laundries  employing  more  than  one  fourth, 
young  persons  employed  in  these  branches  worked  sixty 
hours  in  an  ordinary  week. 

Slack  season.  It  is  doubtful  whether  any  trade  gives  such 
regular  employment  to  women  as  steam  laundry  work. 
August  and  September  are  months  affected  by  slackness  in 
London,  but  the  holiday  exodus  is  to  some  extent  balanced 
by  the  inward  stream  of  provincial  and  foreign  visitors.  Sea- 
side laundries,  besides  importing  skilled  labor  from  London, 
send  work  into  London.  Shorter  time  may  have  to  be  worked, 
but  in  most  laundries  all  the  workers  paid  weekly  wages 
receive  full  pay  even  in  slack  weeks. 

The  Board  of  Trade  Wages  Inquiry  for  190G  showed  very 
slight  variations  in  numbers  employed,  ranging  from  98.0 
per  cent  of  the  average  number  in  February  to  103.2  i)er 
cent  in  June.  The  wages  fluctuations  ranged  from  93.3  per 
cent  of  the  average  in  August  to  107.3  per  cent  in  June. 

Arrangements  for  meals.  Except  in  West  London  some 
kind  of  arrangement  was  generally  made  for  meals  to  be 
eaten  on  the  premises. 

Number  and  percentage  of  work-people  grouped  according 
to  the  arrangements  for  meals  — 

Number         Percentage 

Meals  purchasable  on  premises 2,027  16.7 

Provision  made  for  heating  food.  .  .  .        7,625  62.7 

May  have  meals  on  premises 164  1.-4 

Must  have  meals  outside 731  6.0 

Vague  or  no  information 1,608  13.2 

Total 12,155  100.0 


252  SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 

Special  qualifications  required.  For  success  as  a  sorter  and 
packer,  intelligence,  accuracy,  and  good  education  are  all 
necessary,  and  combined  with  capacity  for  management  may 
make  promotion  from  the  wage-earning  ranks  possible. 

Cleanliness,  respectability,  average  height  and  strength 
are  desired  for  calender  workers. 

Ironers  need  height,  strength,  "a  straight  eye,"  and  a 
desire  to  learn. 

Training.  Although  ironing,  packing,  and  other  branches 
require  skill  and  experience  for  efficiency,  the  demand  for 
workers  is  too  great  for  any  system  of  apprenticeship  to  be 
insisted  on.  In  some  cases  girls  pay  10s.  or  20s.  premium  to 
be  taught  ironing  and  give  a  certain  time  for  nothing.  There 
are  rarely  any  girls  under  agreement  even  for  so  long  as  a 
year.  In  most  branches  a  girl  "picks  up"  her  training  from 
those  near  her.  Special  arrangements  are  made  for  teaching 
ironing.  The  commonest  system  is  to  pay  a  skilled  ironer  to 
teach  the  learner  working  next  to  her  or  to  let  her  have 
everything  the  learner  earns  for  a  fixed  period.  Three  firms 
have  a  special  "ironing  school,"  with  a  competent  teacher. 
Frequently  the  forewoman  or  the  manageress  is  responsible 
for  teaching  the  girls. 

Very  few  of  the  managers  had  had  experience  to  enable 
them  to  judge  of  the  effect  of  trade-school  training. 

Special  circumstances  of  the  trade.  The  prevalent  custom 
of  sending  soiled  linen  to  the  laundry  at  the  beginning  of  the 
week  and  of  expecting  it  back  again  within  six  days  has  been 
responsible  for  many  of  the  drawbacks  to  this  industry  from 
the  point  of  view  of  those  interested  in  the  employment  of 
young  persons.  It  necessitated  unemployment  part  of  the 
week  and  unduly  long  employment  on  other  days,  with  the 
result  that  it  was  mainly  carried  on  by  older  women  with 
the  strength  to  work  verv  long  hours  at  a  time,  and  with 
domestic  claims  upon  them  which  made  them  prefer  to  be 
unemployed  two  or  three  days  a  week. 

The  establishment  of  steam  laundries  and  the  steady 
increase  in  work  for  hotels  much  less  affected  by  domestic 
customs,  created  a  demand  for  young  persons,  a  daily  supply 
of  work  from  customers  and  a  justification  for  regulation  of 


SIJGGESTI^^  MATERIAL 


253 


hours  by  law.  But  laundries  arc  only  slowly  coming  into  line 
with  other  factories,  and  married  women  still  form  a  large 
proportion  of  those  employed.  The  Home  Office  report  as  to 
the  "Marriage  state  of  Women  over  18"  in  1907  based  on 
voluntary  returns  from  employers,  shows  the  marked  con- 
trast between  the  laundrj'  industry  and  other  industries  in 
this  respect. 

Percentage  of  women  over  eighteen 


Unmarried 

Married 

Widowed 

Total 

In  — 

Steam  laundries 

61..2 
Sl.t 
33.0 
85.6 

28.1 
14.7 
51.9 
10.7 

1.1 

3.9 

15.1 

3.7 

100 

Other  non-textile  factories.  . 
Hand  laundries 

100 
100 

Other  workshops 

100 

The  results  of  this  employment  of  married  women  obliged 
to  work  excessively  long  hours  on  certain  days  in  the  week 
have  left  their  traces  on  the  industry,  which  is  often  still 
regarded  as  only  suitable  for  a  rough  class  of  young  girl. 

Advantages  and  disadvantages.  Great  care  is  needed  in 
placing  a  girl  in  a  laundry.  In  the  abstract  the  industry'  has 
much  to  recommend  it.  It  is  inconceivable  that  the  demand 
for  labor  should  not  steadily  increase  as  cleanliness  increases 
amongst  the  j)opulation.  Employment  is  constant.  The 
heavy  parts  of  the  work  are  now  done  in  the  wash-house  with 
the  aid  of  machinery'  worked  by  men.  Factory  inspection 
secures  safeguards  from  excessive  heat  or  moisture.  A  girl 
having  learned  ironing  at  a  laundry  finds  her  skill  useful  in 
after  life,  and  has  a  trade  to  which  she  can  always  resort 
when  the  need  arises.  As  a  packer  and  sorter  she  develoj^s 
intelligence  and  powers  of  management,  and  her  money 
wages  could  be  much  higher  than  is  customary  at  present  if 
she  Iwought  to  her  work  a  better  education  than  is  customary 
in  tli(>  trade. 

The  disadvantages  at  present  existing  are  numerous.  Tlie 
hours  permitted  by  law,  which  are  not  usually  worked  in  the 


254.  SUGGESTIVE  IVIATERIAL 

trades  previously  reported  on,  are  frequently  worked  by 
young  persons  in  laundries  and  are  far  too  long.  Young  per- 
sons employed  on  calender  work  frequently  never  pass  on  to 
a  more  skilled  and  more  remunerative  branch.  The  tone  of 
the  laundry  frequently  leaves  much  to  be  desired. 

Every  one  of  these  disadvantages  can  be  obviated  by  care 
on  the  part  of  parents  and  guardians  placing  girls  and  of 
superintendents  of  laundries. 


MATERLVL  USED  FOR  VOCATIONAL  GUID.VNCE 
BY  THE  GRAND  RAPIDS  (MICH.)  JUNIOR  AND 
SENIOR  HIGH  SCHOOLS 

Seventh  and  Eighth  Grades 

The  vocational  guidance  work  of  the  seventh  and  eighth 
grades  is  taught  in  connection  witli  Enghsh  grammar  and 
geography,  for  all  of  the  exercises  are  composition,  either 
oral  or  written.  They  cover  such  subjects  as  occupations, 
simi)le  biography,  and  the  value  of  an  education.  The 
I)ni)il  is  not  marked  on  how  much  he  knows  of  these,  but 
on  how  well  he  tells  what  he  knows.  All  the  exercises  have 
proved  of  interest  to  the  pupils,  and  have  filled  a  long-felt 
want  among  teachers  of  composition,  because  the  subjects 
seem  to  be  vital  and  enlarge  the  horizons  of  the  class.  The 
study  of  some  occupations  is  less  likely  to  interest  the  girls. 

A  few  general  subjects  under  the  study  of  occupations  are 
the  following:  1.  The  study  of  a  home  occupation.  2.  This 
occui)ation  compared  with  the  same  occupation  in  foreign 
countries.  3.  The  account  of  a  trip  through  some  manufac- 
turing plant,  office,  building,  or  store. 

Sample  exercise:  — 

The  comparative  study  of  an  occupation 

1.  In  what  foreign  countries  can  this  occupation  bo  found? 

2.  How  does  the  occui)ation  in  these  other  foreign  coun- 
tries differ  from  it  as  I  know  it? 

3.  Wher(>  should  I  esi)ecially  like  to  live  to  follow  it?  Why? 

a.  Is  the  country  healthier? 

b.  Does   the  country   give   me   more  opportunity   to 
exjiand  my  occupation? 


25G  SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 

A  few  subjects  under  the  study  of  biography  are  these: 
1.  The  hfe  of  a  successful  celebrated  person.  (This  should 
be  read  to  the  class  by  the  teacher.)  2.  The  life  of  a  success- 
ful person  that  the  pupil  knows.  3.  The  life  of  the  pupil 
himself. 

Sample  exercise:  — 

The  life  of  a  successful  person 

1.  Wlien  and  where  did live? 

2.  What  work  did  he  do.'' 

3.  What  was  the  most  important  point  in  his  life? 

4.  What  pleasures  did  he  have? 

5.  What  made  his  work  successful? 

6.  Did  he  render  service  to  his  fellow-men? 

7.  Did  he  live  by  any  law,  or  motto,  or  aim  of  his  own? 
Wliat  was  his  guide  (law,  motto,  aim)  and  was  it  a  good 
one  or  not?  Why? 

Sample  subjects  that  may  follow  the  pupil's  life  are  as 
follows:  1.  How  I  earned  my  first  money.  2.  How  I  spend 
my  Saturdays.   3.  My  first  real  work. 

To  show  the  value  of  an  education,  the  following  subjects 
are  good :  1.  A  talk  by  some  young  person  who  has  returned 
to  school  after  being  out  for  a  period,  on  "WTiy  I  Left 
School"  or  "Why  I  Came  Back  to  School."  2.  \^^lat  people 
I  know  say  about  the  value  of  an  education.  3.  \NTiat  I  could 
do  if  I  left  school  now.  4.  What  other  young  people  have 
done  who  have  left  school  at  the  end  of  the  eighth  grade. 
5.  Wages  of  eighth-grade  graduates  as  compared  with  the 
wages  of  high-school  graduates.  6.  What  a  family  has  done. 
(This  is  taken  from  an  article  in  the  Outlook  of  August  26, 
1911.)   7.  My  high-school  course. 

Ninth  Grade 

In  the  ninth  grade,  the  study  becomes  personal,  and  enters 
into  more  elaborate  biography.  Perhaps  the  first  exercises 
will  be  as  follows :  — 

My  ancestors:  Where  they  came  from.  \Miy  they  came  to 
this  country.  Whether  or  not  they  had  to  contend  with 
hardships.   What  they  have  done  here. 


SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL  257 

My  'parents:  Early  life.  Hardships.  Occupation,  its  difE- 
culties  and  advantages.  What  they  have  done  for  their 
child 


ren: 


3 


Ml/self:  My  diildhood;  my  school  life;  any  uncommon 
good  fortune,  or  hiui,  that  has  befullen  me;  my  pleasures, 
favorite  studies;  my  ambitions;  my  health,  etc. 

These  essays  will  serve  not  only  to  draw  the  pupil  out  and 
secure  natural  ex])rt>ssion,  but  also  to  establish  a  personal 
and  intimate  relation  between  pui)il  and  teacher.  The 
teacher  should  hold  the  information  gained  in  this  way  as  a 
pri\'ileged  comnninication.  The  school  spirit  of  the  pupil 
may  be  transformed  by  it. 

Morals  and  Manners  can  well  be  added  to  this  in  a  series 
of  essays,  in  which,  with  the  true  spirit  of  comedy,  the  unde- 
sirable is  shown  its  own  image  in  the  glass  of  nature.  Mono- 
logues and  dialogues  give  a  fit  form.  The  subjects  are  inex- 
haustible; presenting  the  person  with  bad  manners,  (1)  In 
the  Street  Car.  (2)  At  the  Theater.  (3)  On  iJw  Playground. 
(4)  Ihiying  a  Hat.  (5)  Telling  a  Fish  Story.  (6)  Gossiping 
li'ith  a  Neighbor.  The  healthy  humor  of  the  mimicry  does 
much  to  make  the  class  one. 

Health  and  Hygiene  also  adds  a  stimulating  subject  for 
composition  as  well  as  for  better  living  among  the  children. 

Some  of  the  subjects  given  are:  The  Value  of  Open-Air 
Life;  Exercise;  Proper  Amount  of  Sleep;  Food  Values;  Bathing; 
Neatness  of  Person. 

Among  the  biographies  most  useful  in  this  grade  are  those 
of  Helen  Keller,  Jacob  Riis,  Booker  T.  Washington,  Phillips 
Brooks,  Jane  Addams,  Alice  Freeman  Palmer,  Mar^-  Lyon, 
Thomas  Edison,  etc.  An  essential  element  is  that  the  suc- 
cess was  often  attained  without  advantage  at  the  start  of 
life.   Most  of  this  work  is  oral. 

Tenth  Grade 

In  the  tenth  grade,  a  great  number  of  occupations  are 
listed  at  the  suggestion  of  the  class,  perhaps  because  mem- 
bers have  some  special  opi)()rtunity  for  knowing  tliem;  then 
each  pupil  presents  one  orally  or  in  written  composition 


258  SUGGESTIVE  :\L\TERIAL 

helped  in  his  preparation  by  means  of  an  outline.  A  part  of 
this  offers  opportunity  to  do  some  research  work.  One  girl 
listed  three  hundred  and  fifty  occupations  for  women,  and 
the  salaries  paid  each.  Her  method  was  to  take  the  Hsts  of 
the  telephone  directory  and  call  up  the  people  whose  names 
she  found.  Then  she  asked  what  she  wanted  to  know.  Inge- 
nuity will  invent  other  methods.  Others  obtained  their  facts 
from  relatives  or  friends  who  knew  the  occupation. 

Suggested  outline 

The  vocation:  1.  Its  character, its  present  status,  its  future, 
its  healthfulness,  the  kind  of  life  it  compels  as  to  hours  and 
other  conditions,  its  effect  upon  one's  personal  development, 
its  opportunity  for  service  to  the  community.  2.  The  prepa- 
ration necessary  for  entering  the  vocation  (general  require- 
ments, natural  ability  or  skill,  education,  special  training), 
the  means  of  entering  it  (apprenticeship,  working  up,  school- 
ing, local  chances  of  an  opening).  3.  Sidelights  on  the  voca- 
tion (opinions  of  those  in  it  at  present,  statistical  reports, 
laws  affecting  the  vocation,  periodicals  and  books  discussing 
it,  personal  observation). 

In  the  second  half  of  this  year  some  of  the  pupils  will  be 
ready  to  study  some  occupation  that  they  expect  to  enter. 
Those  who  have  no  definite  occupation  in  mind  will  choose 
one  under  the  guidance  of  the  teacher  that  has  some  special 
interest  in  him.  An  outline  can  be  given  by  the  teacher  to 
aid  the  pupil  in  his  investigations. 

My  aim  vocation:  1.  Origin  or  historv'.  2.  Modern  con- 
ditions (as  in  preceding  outline).  3.  Good  points  and  bad 
points  (degree  of  independence,  permanence,  importance, 
remuneration,  —  money  or  pleasure  in  the  work  itself  or  in 
social  returns).  4.  How  to  enter  it  (preparation,  cost,  length 
of  time  for  study).  5.  Characteristics  necessary  for  suc- 
cess. 

Tliis  last  will  require  self -analysis  of  a  limited  kind,  as  well 
as  analysis  of  men  in  the  occupation,  and  should  be  strictly 
confidential.  Here  it  may  be  possible  to  save  some  one  who 
habitually  fails  in  mathematics  from  entering  engineering 


SUGGESTIVE   ^LVTERIAL  259 

because  a  licro  or  relative  has  succeeded  in  it,  or  because 
father  or  mother  are  aruhitious  that  he  shall  snccoed  in  it. 


Eleventh  Grade 

Now  that  vocations  have  been  considered,  tlie  preparation 
becomes  important,  and  schools  and  colleges  may  be  studied. 
There  are  various  kinds  to  consider,  among  which  are  the 
industrious,  })rofessional,  and  purely  literary;  art  schools, 
manual  training  schools,  schools  for  physical  training,  etc. 
Each  pupil  should  take  a  special  interest  in  some  school  and 
look  it  up  through  its  catalogues  and  by  interviews  with 
graduates,  and  compare  with  other  schools  of  the  same  kind. 
The  small  colleges  versus  the  large,  the  co-education  versus 
the  separate  schools  for  men  and  women,  Eastern  colleges 
versiis  Western,  native  versus  foreign;  all  of  these  are  good 
subjects  for  discussion  and  debate.  The  ideals  of  the  colleges 
and  the  condition  of  student  life  there  are  soon  to  be  valu- 
able to  them,  as  well  as  tlie  value  of  a  college  education.  The 
subjects  reciuired  for  college  entrance,  and  other  conditions 
must  be  ascertained,  and  j)upils'  own  i)rograms  inspected 
to  see  whether  their  work  is  proi)erly  mapj)ed  out. 

In  the  second  half  of  this  year  the  ethics  of  the  vocations 
are  considered.  Girls  who  are  not  going  to  college  and  have 
no  sjjccial  choice  study  problems  of  domestic  life;  the  rela- 
tion of  mistress  and  servant,  of  expenditure,  of  gossij),  of 
treatment  of  clerks,  in  the  stores,  proper  dress,  and  buying 
good  or  cheap  articles  in  jinn'iding  their  household  supplies. 
Those  who  have  no  definite  i)lans  consider  the  moral  codes 
of  the  professions,  and  business  life.  The  subject  is  inexhaust- 
ible. The  ethics  that  inspired  the  founders  of  the  Consumers' 
League,  Anti-Saloon  League,  ami  otluT  leagues  for  ttie  better- 
ment of  social  conditions  are  debated  here. 


Twelfth  Grade 

When  the  occupations  of  the  business  and  i^rofcssional 
world  have  been  studietl,  to  which  most  men  devote  their 
lives  and  by  which  they  earn  Llnir  living,  it  is  well  to  single 


260  SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 

out  for  special  study  those  which  are  distinguished  as  sup- 
ported by  and  for  the  people  because  they  are  necessary  for 
the  public  well-h)eing  and  the  betterment  of  society.  Soon 
most  of  the  pupils  in  this  grade  will  be  earning  their  own  liv- 
ing, and  paying  either  by  taxes  or  by  gift  for  the  maintenance 
of  public  institutions. 

Public  institutions  maintained  by  subscription  will  supply 
subjects  for  the  first  half-year,  and  those  maintained  by 
taxes  for  the  second.  The  result  of  the  first  year's  study  must 
be  a  growth  in  public  spirit,  a  willingness  to  give  support 
by  seeking  occupation  in  one  of  the  institutions,  by  contribut- 
ing in  money  and  kind,  or  by  the  aid  of  a  vote  or  sympathy. 
Each  for  All  is  the  unconscious  teaching,  and  a  return  to  the 
state  and  society  for  benefits  received.  When  they  are 
asked,  "What  institutions  does  the  state  maintain  for  its 
people,  opening  occupations  to  some  of  its  citizens?"  the 
class  will  readily  suggest  a  long  list,  beginning  with  the 
Police  Department  and  ending  with  the  Army  and  Navy. 
In  ten  minutes  the  list  will  contain  more  institutions  than 
are  sufficient  to  suj)ply  subjects  for  the  individuals  of  the 
class.  It  will  include  the  Board  of  Health,  City  Hospitals, 
Fire  Commission,  Water  Supply,  Weather  Bureau,  —  an 
indefinite  list.  This  is  swelled  by  the  institutions  the  state 
charters  and  in  a  fashion  directs,  such  as  Insurance  Com- 
panies, Railroads,  Trusts,  etc.  These  subjects  are  excellent 
to  exercise  the  pupil  in  research  work ;  he  has  now  reached  a 
stage  where  it  is  well  for  him  to  collect  and  organize  a  large 
body  of  facts  independently.  His  material  will  be  obtained 
from  the  reference  library,  by  personal  visits  for  inspection 
of  the  institutions  studied  and  interviews  with  the  officials, 
or  by  any  other  means  that  ingenuity  can  devise.  The 
organization  of  this  body  of  material  and  writing  of  a  manu- 
script in  the  best  possible  form,  with  footnotes,  a  bibliog- 
raphy, and  an  outline,  this  is  a  labor  to  stimulate  the  pupil 
to  his  highest  effort. 

Among  the  institutions  supported  by  contributions  are 
Churches,  Charities  and  Corrections,  Associations  of  Com- 
merce, Historical  Societies,  Musical  Societies,  Women's 
Clubs,  Art  Leagues,  Lodges,   Consumers'   Leagues,  Anti- 


SUGGESnVE  MATERIAL  2G1 

Saloon  LoaRuo.  Y.M.C.A.,  Y.W.C.A..  Rod-Cross  Society, 
Anti-TiilxTculosis  Society,  etc.  A  final  report  to  the  class 
by  each  piij)!!  of  the  main  points  made  in  his  essay  is  a  reve- 
lation of  the  value  of  this  work  to  the  younger  people. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  following  publications  are  of  interest  to  students  of 
vocational  guidance,  and  may  well  serve  as  the  nucleus  of 
a  school  vocation  library :  — 

Bibliographies 

Bayonne,  New  Jersey,  Public  Library.  Classroom  libraries  on 
vocations  selected  for  the  fifth  to  eighth  years  of  elemen- 
tary schools.   1913. 

Brockton,  Massachusetts,  Public  Library  List  on  voca- 
tional guidance  and  training.  (In  Quarterly  Bulletin,  July, 
September,  1913,  pp.  22-24.) 

Brooklyn,  New  York,  Public  Library.  Choosing  an  Occu- 
pation.   1913. 

Chicago  School  of  Civics  and  Philanthropy.  Finding  Em- 
ployment for  Children  who  leave  the  Grade  School  to  go 
to  Work,  p.  53. 

Grand  Rapids,  Micliigan,  Public  Library.  List  on  vocational 
guidance.    (In  Bulletin,  October,  1913.) 

New  York  School  of  Philanthropy,  130  East  22d  Street, 
New  York,  List  on  vocational  guidance.  (In  Bulletin, 
November,  1911.) 

Pittsburg.  Monthly  Bulletin  of  the  Carnegie  Library,  vol. 
18,  no.  5,  May,  1913,  p.  196. 

Pratt  Institute  Free  Library,  Brooklyn,  New  York.  \Miat 
to  Read  on  Vocations.   1912. 

Philadelphia,  Board  of  Education.  Pedagogical  Library. 
A  working  library  on  vocational  guidance.    1912. 

Providence,  Rhode  Island,  Public  Library.  \Miat  Next?  A 
brief  list  on  vocations. 

Teachers  College,  Columbia  L'niversity,  New  York.  List 
of  books  relating  to  industrial  arts  and  education.    1911. 

Vocational  Bureau,  C  Beacon  Street,  Boston.  List  of  books, 
periodicals,  etc.,  on  vocational  guidance.    (Out  of  print.) 


lUIJLIOGRAPIIY  263 


Books 


Allon,  Frederick  J.  Business  Employments;  A  Vocation 
Bureau  Study.    Ginn  &  Co.,  1915. 

Bloomfield,  Meyer.  The  School  and  the  Start  in  Life.  The 
United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  Washington,  1913. 
The  Vocational  Guidance  of  Youth.  Price,  60  cents. 
Houghton,  Mifflin  Company,  Boston,  1911.  Revised  edi- 
tion, 1915.  Readings  in  Vocational  Guidance.  Ginn  & 
Co.,  1915. 

Bray,  Reginald  A.  The  Town  Child.  T.  Fisher  Unwin, 
Tendon. 

Butler,  Elizabeth  Beardsley.  Saleswomen  in  Mercantile 
Stores.  Charities  Publication  Committee,  New  York,  1912. 

Cooley,  Edwin  G.  Vocational  Education  in  Europe.  The 
Commercial  Club  of  Chicago,  1912. 

Davis,  Jesse  B.  Vocational  and  Moral  Guidance.  Ginn  & 
Co.,  1914. 

Dean,  Arthur.  The  Worker  and  the  State.  Century  Com- 
pany, New  York,  1910. 

Eliot,  Dr.  Charles  W.  Edtication  for  Efficiency.  Houghton 
Mifflin  Company,  Boston. 

Freeman,  Arnold.  Boy  Life  and  Labor.  P.  S.  King,  London, 
1914. 

Gordon,  Mrs.  Ogilvie.  Handbook  of  Employments.  The 
Rosemount  Press,  Aberdeen,  Scotland,  1908. 

Greenwood,  Arthur.  Juvenile  Labor  Exchanges  and  After- 
Care.   P.  S.  King  &  Son,  London,  1911. 

Hanus,  Professor  Paul  H.  Beginnings  in  Industrial  Educa- 
tion. Houghton  Mifflin  Company,  Boston. 

Johnston,  Charles  Hughes.  The  Modern  High  School :  Its  Ad- 
ministration and  Extension.  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1914. 

Keeling,  Frederic.  The  Labor  Exchange  in  Relation  to  Boy 
and  Girl  Labor.    P.  S.  King  &  Son,  London,  1910. 

King,  Irving.  Social  Aspects  of  Education.  The  Macmillan 
Company,  1912. 

Laselle,  Mary  A.,  and  Katherine  Wiley,  with  an  introduc- 
tion by  Meyer  Bloomfield.  Vocations  for  Girls.  Price, 
85  cents.   Houghton  Mifflin  Company,  Boston,  1912. 


264  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

"Mein  Kunf tiger  Beruf."   A  series  of  booklets  published  in 

Leipzig  by  C.  Bange. 
Parsons,  Professor  Frank.     Choosing  a  Vocation.    Price, 

$1  net.   Houghton  MifHin  Company,  Boston,  1909. 
Sadler,  Professor  M.  E.    Continuation  Schools  in  England 

and  Elsewhere,  chap,  xv,  on  Apprenticeship  and  Skilled 

Employment  Committees.  University  Press,  Manchester, 

England. 
Snedden,  Dr.  David.  The  Problem  of  Vocational  Education. 

Houghton  Mifflin  Company,  Boston. 
Thorndike,  Edward  L.    Individualit}'.     Houghton  Mifflin 

Company,  Boston.  19n. 
Trades  for  London  Boys. 
Trades  for  London  Girls. 

Longmans,  Green  &  Co.,  London. 
"Was  Werde  Ich?"  A  series  of  booklets  published  in  Leipzig 

by  Albert  Otto  Paul. 
Weeks,  Ruth  Mary.     The  People's  School.    60  cents  net. 

Houghton  Mifflin  Company,  Boston,  1912. 
Women's  Educational  and  Industrial  Union.     Vocations 

for  the  Trained  Woman,  Other  than  Teaching.  Women's 

Educational  and  Industrial  Union,  264  Boylston  Street, 

Boston,  1910. 
Women's  Municipal  League.   A  Handbook  of  Opportunities 

for  Vocational  Training  in  Boston.    $1.25  net.    Women's 

Municipal  League,  6  Marlborough  Street,  Boston,  1913. 

Reports 

American  Federation  of  Labor:  Committee  on  Industrial 
Education,  Senate  Document  no.  936,  1912,  62d  Con- 
gress. 

Boston  School  Committee:  Annual  Reports,  1910  (appendix 
G.  P.  147);  1911  (appendix  B.  P.  32);  1912  (all). 

Finding  Employment  for  Children  who  leave  the  Grade 
School  to  go  to  Work :  Chicago  School  of  Civics  and  Phil- 
anthropy. 

Inquiry  into  Vocational  Aims  of  High-School  Pupils,  Somer- 
ville,  Massachusetts.  School  Report,  1913.  Miss  Bessie 
p.  Davis. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  ;2(J5 

National  Diild  Labor  Coininitfct*.  Procec(Jings  8th  Annual 
Conl'tTcncc  at  Louisville.  191'-2. 

National  ContVrence  on  Vocational  Guidance.  2d  Report 
on  New  York  Session,  October,  1912.   $1. 

Sfliool  and  Kniploynicnt  in  t  lie  United  States,  Board  of  Edu- 
cation, Londun,  Enj^land,  1914. 

Students'  Aid  Committee  of  the  High-School  'JVachers' 
Association  of  New  York  City.  Publications.  Benjamin 
C.  Gnienbcrf^,  Secretary,  Commercial  High  School,  Brook- 
lyn, NeA\   York. 

Teachers  College  Bulletin.  Address  of  Professor  Thorndike 
on  Vocational  Guidance,  March  29,  1913. 

Teachers  College  Reeorrl.  Educational  Surveys  and  Voca- 
tional Guidance.  January,  19i;J.  I'lie  Making  of  a  Girls' 
Trade  School.  September,  1909.  Columbia  University 
Press,  Columbia  Uni\ersity,  New  York. 

The  American  Girl  in  the  Stock-Yards  Dist.  Part  ii,  1913. 
Louise  Montgomery. 

The  Child,  the  School,  and  the  Job.  James  Hiatt,  Secre- 
tary of  Public  Educational  Association. 

The  School  and  the  Start  in  Life.  Meyer  Bloomfield. 
United  States  Bureau  of  Education.  1914. 

Vocational  Survey  of  Minnesota,  1913.  The  Minnesota 
Teachers'  Club. 

Conditions  under  which  Children  leave  School  to  go  to  Work, 
United  States  Bureau  of  Labor  (vol.  7),  1910. 

Vocational  Guidance.  L^nited  States  Bureau  of  Education. 
Bulletin  no.  14.  1914. 

Year-Book.  1910-11.  New  York  City  High-School  Teachers' 
Association,  vol.  5. 

Periodic.vl  Literature 

Charting  Childhood  in  Cincinnati.   Mrs.  Helen  T.  Wooley. 

Survey,  30:  (J01-0(j. 
Crying  Need  for  Connecting  up  Man  and  Job.   F.  A.  Kellor. 

Survey,  31:  .541-42. 
Facts    about   Working   Children    of   Cincinnati    and    their 

Bearing  on  Educational  Problems.     Elan.  Sch.   T.,   14: 

59-72;  132-39.    1913. 


266  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

History  of  Vocational  Guidance.    T.  H.  Hutchins.    Assoc. 

Seminar,  21:  46-60,  84-91,  128-47.    1912-13. 
Launching  the  Child.    M.  E.  Bruere.    Outlook,  101:  75-80. 

1912. 
Practical  Arts   and   Vocational   Guidance.    C.  A.  Prosser. 

Manual  Training.  14:  209-22.    191.S. 
Psychological  Tests  in  Vocational  Guidance.  Journal  of  Ed. 

Ps7jch.,  vol.  4,  no.  4,  pp.  232-37.   1913. 
Studies  in  Vocational    Guidance.    E.  E.  Lewis.    Sch.    and 

Home  Ed.,  vol.  32,  no.  4,  pp.  135-38;  vol.  32,  no.  6,  pp. 

212-14;  vol.  32,  no.  7,  pp.  247-51.    1913. 
The   Vocation   Bureau  of  Boston.     F.  J.  Allen.    National 

Municipal  Revieiv,  January,  1913. 
Opportunities  in  School  and  Industry  for  Children  of  Stock- 
Yards  Districts.   University  of  Chicago  Press. 
The  Social  Waste  of  Unguided  Personal  Ability.    American 

Journal  of  Sociology,  1913. 
The  Vocational  Interests,  etc.,  of  the  Pupils  in  Certain  High 

Schools  in  Iowa.  Irving  King,  School  Series,  March,  1914. 
The  Vocational  Counselor    in  Action.    Meyer    Bloomfield 

and  L.  F.  Wentworth.    Survey,  30:  183-89.    1913. 
The  First  Course  in  Vocational  Guidance.    Survey,  26:  848- 

49.    1911. 
The  Occupations  of  College  Graduates.    Dean  Frederick  P. 

Keppel,  Educational  Revieio,  December,  1910. 
Vocational  Guidance.    Stephen  S.  Colvin.   Independent,  78: 

425-28.   June  1,  1914. 
Vocational  Guidance  and  the  Public.    Educ.  Sch.  R.,  19: 

51-56.    1911. 
Vocational  Preparation  as  a  Social  Problem.    Educ.  R.,  45: 

289-97.    1913. 
Vocational   Guidance.    Stratton  D.  Brooks.    Sch.  R.,  19: 

42-51.    1911. 
Vocational   Guidance   and   the   Teacher   of   Science.    Sch. 

Seminar,  13:89-97.   1913. 
Vocational  Guidance:  In  High  Schools.  F.M.Giles.  Sch.R., 

22:  227-34.    April,  1914. 
Vocational   Guidance   in    Cincinnati.    Frank   P.   Goodwin. 

Vac.  Ed.,  3:  249-59.   March,  1914. 


¥ 


\ 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  267 

Vocational  Giiidanrr  tliroiigli  tlio  Library.  American  Li- 
brary Association  Piihlicatioii  BoanI,  78  East  Washington 
Street,  Chicago.  Hci»riMf  Imiu  Massachusetts  Library 
Chib  Bulletin,  January,  1914. 

\'ocational  Guidance.  Board  of  Education,  New  York 
Document  no.  4.  1914. 


N.E. A.  Pkoceedings 

How  should  the  Scliool  System  contribute  to  an  Intelligent 
Choice  of  a  Vocation  on  the  Part  of  the  Pui)il.^  George 
P.  Knox.    191^2,  pp.  417-25. 

Practical  .Vrts  and  Vocational  Guidance.  C.  A.  Prosser. 
1912,  pp.  645-01. 

The  Use  of  the  Library  in  Vocational  Guidance.  Jesse  B. 
Davis.    1912,  pp.  1267-73. 

The  Value  during  Education  of  the  Life-Career  Motive. 
Charles  W.  Eliot.    1912,  pp.  133-41. 

Vocational  Guidance.   Meyer  Bloomfield.    1912,  pp.  431-36. 

Vocational  and  Moral  Guidance  through  English  Composi- 
tion in  the  High  School.  Jesse  B.  Davis.  1910,  pp. 
713-18. 


I 


OUTLINE 


THE  CHOICE  OF  LIFE-WORK  AND  ITS 
DIFFICULTIES 

1.  A  suggestion  from  Franklin's  Autobiography 1 

2.  Haphazard  start  in  life 1 

3.  Changed  conditions 1 

•1.  The  new  specialization  of  labor "2 

5.  The  efficiency  engineer 2 

6.  The  adolescent  crisis i 

7.  Young  work-seekers 3 

8.  \Yhat  vocational  choice  involves 4 

9.  Play  and  vocation 4 

10.  Tenement  children         5 

11.  The  home  and  the  life-career 6 

12.  What  one  counselor  has  done 7 

13.  An  East  Side  librarian 7 

14.  The  problem  of  vocational  guidance 8 

THE   WASTEFUL  START  AND   INEFFICIENCY 

1.  England's  experience 9 

2.  The  future  for  the  boys 9 

3.  Reports  of  the  Royal  Commission  on  the  Poor-Laws  ...  10 

4.  Other  testimony        10 

5.  "Blind-alley"  children 12 

6.  American  experience 13 

7.  Some  Boston  testimony 14 

8.  Studies  by  the  University  of  Chicago  Settlement     ...  16 

9.  United  States  Government  investigation 17 

10.  \Miy  children  leave  school  for  work 18 

11.  Job  hoboes 18 

12.  The  unemployables 21 

13.  The  problem  of  vocational  education 22 

14.  New  demands  upon  the  public  schools 23 

15.  The  problem  of  vocational  guidance 23 

16.  Far-reaching  social  program        24 

17.  Current  vocational  influences 25 

18.  The  aim  of  vocational  guidance 26 


I 


OUTLINE  2G9 


EDUCATIONAL  AND  VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE 

1.  President  Emeritus  Eliot  on  the  "Life-Career  Motive"  .     .  27 

2.  Choice  of  further  training 28 

3.  Educational  guidance 28 

4.  Two  illustrations 29 

5.  Beginnings  in  vocational  guidance 30 

6.  Pioneer  work  of  Professor  Frank  Parsons 31 

7.  The  V'ocation  Bureau 31 

8.  \Vork  with  the  Boston  schools 32 

9.  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Vocational  Direction     ...  34 

10.  The  activities  of  the  Vocation  Bureau  of  Boston  ....  39 

11.  The  employer's  relation  to  vocational  guidance  ....  47 

THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE 

1.  Vocational  counseUng  —  the  new  profession 50 

2.  First  steps        51 

3.  Preliminary  survey        51 

4.  Suggestion  from  Cincinnati 52 

5.  The  Newton  Plan 53 

6.  Suggestions  for  procedure 55 

7.  Selection  of  director 56 

8.  The  counselor  in  action 57 

9.  The  Henry  Street  Vocational  Scholarship  Committee  .     .  57 

10.  Psychological  tests  in  vocational  guidance CO 

11.  Use  of  local  resources 63 

12.  Ambition  and  aptitude 64 

13.  Vocational  literature 64 

14.  Training  vocational  counselors 87 

15.  Guidance  and  employment 89 

16.  Exploiting  vocational  guidance 89 

17.  At  what  age  should  guidance  begin? 90 

18.  The  vocational  decision 91 

19.  Cautions  in  vocational  guidance 92 

20.  Principles  of  vocational  guidance 93 

21.  Summary  of  the  dangers 94 

VOCATION.VL  GUIDANCE  IN  GERMANY 

1.  Local  factors 95 

2.  Guidance  and  the  German  schools 96 

S.  Parents'  consultation  hours 97 

4.  Predetermined  occupation 98 


270  OUTLINE 

5.  Changing  industrial  conditions 99 

6.  Vocational  guidance  efforts 101 

7.  Work  in  Halle 102 

8.  German  labor  bureaus 105 

9.  Vocational  guidance  policies 107 

VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  IN  ENGLAND  AND 
SCOTLAND 

1.  Two  basic  acts 109 

2.  Memorandum  of  cooperation  between  labor  exchanges  and 
the  schools Ill 

3.  Methods  of  carr^-ing  out  the  schemes 116 

4.  Volunteer  advisory  committees .118 

5.  London       120 

6.  Work  of  local  committees 121 

7.  The  employment  of  children 124 

8.  Details  of  help  to  minors        124 

f  9.  Birmingham 127 

10.  School  care  committees 128 

11.  Further  education 129 

12.  The  "helper's"  notebook 133 

13.  Edinburgh 137 

14.  Circulars  to  parents  and  children 138 

15.  Regulations  pertaining  to  the  work  in  Edinburgh      .     .     .  145 

VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE  AND  HEALTH  GUIDANCE 

1.  Essentials  in  employment  schemes 148 

2.  Necessity  of  legislative  control 148 

3.  The  Minority  Report 149 

4.  Future  of  unskilled  labor        150 

5.  Needs  of  "  blind-alley  "  children 151 

6.  Medical  inspection 151 

7.  The  Dewsbury  experiment 153 

8.  The  physician  and  the  start  in  life 157 

THE  SCHOOL  AND  THE  START  IN  LIFE 

1.  The  keynote  of  service 158 

2.  Outline  of  policy  for  schools  in  relation  to  employment  .     .159 

3.  Research  and  social  vision ICO 

4.  The  problem  before  the  schools 162 

5.  The  basis  of  employment 163 

6.  School  and  occupation       163 


OUTLINE  271 

7.  Ruporviscd  wnrk-soekinf? 100 

8.  Adolcsccril  ciiiployiiK'nt 107 

9.  Vocational  help  bureaus 108 

THE  SOCIAL  GAIN  THROUGH  VOCATIONAL 
GUIDANCE 

1.  The  "one  talent" 171 

2.  Evolution  of  the  vocations 172 

3.  New  avenues  of  service 172 

4.  An  example  of  vocational  guidance 173 

6.  Social  iiiterdependonce  of  vocations 173 

6.  The  ideal  of  the  work-career 175 

7.  The  challenge  to  the  occupations 176 

8.  Ideals  of  vocational  guidance 170 

SUGGESTIVE  MATERIAL 

1.  Schedules  and  Questionnaires 179-200 

2.  Records  of  a  Boston  School  Vocal  ionul  Coiinsclor     .     .     .  207 

3.  Specimens  of  talks  given  before   the   Boston   Vocational 
Counselors 217 

4.  Examjilos  of  occupational  study,  for  the  use  of  the  London 
Juvenile  Labor  Exchanges 244 

5.  Material  used  for  vocational  guidance  by  the  Grand  Rapids, 
Michigan,  Junior  and  Senior  High  Schools 255 


I 


INDEX 


Adolescence,  3. 

Advisory    committees,   English, 

118. 
Alliance    Employment    Bureau, 

59. 
Apprenticeship,  150. 

Berlin  Labor  Bureau,  104. 
Beveridge,  W.  H.,  105. 
Birmingham,  127. 
Blind  alley,  12. 
Blind-alley  occupations,  10. 
Board  of  Trade,  110. 
Boston  School  Committee,  32. 
Boston  school-teachers,  13. 
Boston  specialty  store,  2. 
Boston  Vocation  Bureau,  39. 

Choice,  like  play,  4. 

Choice  of  life-work,  4. 

Choosing  a  Vocation,  Parsons,  32. 

Cincinnati,  Charting  Childhood 
in,  51. 

Civic  Service  House,  30. 

Committee  on  the  Place  of  In- 
dustries, etc.,  27. 

Comparative  wages  chart,  61. 

Complicated  social  order,  1. 

Consultative  committee,  11. 

Critical  period  of  working  life,  1. 

Crowded  district,  5. 

Cul-de-sac,  12. 

Dead-end  occupations,  21. 
Decision,  vocational,  91. 
Democracy,  6. 

Department  store  diagram,  80, 
81.  84,  85.  86. 


Dewsbury,  116. 

Dewsbury  factory  surgeon,  154. 

East  Side  Library,  7. 

Edinburgh,  137. 

Edinburgh  School  Board  circu- 
lars, 139. 

Educational  guidance,  28. 

Efficiency  engineer,  2. 

Eliot,  President,  27. 

Employment  Managers'  Associa- 
tion, 48. 

Follow-up  work,  26. 
Foreign-born,  6. 
Fourteen-year-old  children,  1. 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  1. 

Game  of  "Trades,"  4. 
Germany,    vocational    guidance 

in,  95. 
Gordon,  Mrs.  Ogilvie,  64,  137. 
Guidance,  12,  25. 

Halle  Statistical  Bureau,  97. 
Hanus,  Prof.  Paul  H.,  90. 
Health  guidance,  157. 
Helper's  notebook,  134-136. 
Henry  St.  Settlement  vocational 

scholarships  committee,  57. 
High  School  of  Commerce,  29. 
High  School  of  Practical  Arts,  29. 
Higher  training  schools,  3. 

Industrial  education  commissions 

in  Mass.,  18. 
Informed  choice.  3. 
Intelligent  forethought,  4. 


INDEX 


273 


Investigation  iu  Boston,  14. 

Italians,  7. 

Jackson,  Cyril,  11. 
Job-junglf,  il. 

Kindergarten  teacher,  4. 

Labor  Exchanges  Act,  109. 
Laissez-faire  atlituiie,  8. 
Life-career  motive,  90. 
London,  120. 

London  County  Council,  121. 
London  elementary  schools,  11. 

Majority  report,  9. 

Marshall,  0. 

Massachusetts    State    Board    of 

Health,  7. 
Medical  officer,  1.53. 
Me(hcal  supervision,  155. 
Memorandum,  joint,  110. 
Minority  report,  10. 
Minute  division  of  labor,  2. 
Modem  education,  22. 
Munich,  101. 
Munich  Labor  Bureau,  106. 

National  Education  Association, 
27. 

Newton  educational  and  voca- 
tional guidance  department, 
53. 

Occupational  world,  164. 

Parents'  consultation  hours,  97. 
Parsons,  Prof.  Frank,  31. 
Preventive  medicine,  172. 
"Process"  workers,  22. 
Psychological  tests,  GO. 


Report  of  Boston  teacher's  com- 
mittee, 34. 

Research,  158. 

Royal  Commission  on  the  Poor 
Laws,  9. 

Sadler,  Prof.  Michael  E.,  10. 
Schooling,  choice  of  further,  28. 
Scotland,  117. 
Seashore,  Prof.  Carl,  62. 
Social  organization,  164. 
Specialization,  2. 
Strassburg,  105. 
Summary  of  causes  for  children 

leaving  school,  19. 
Systematic  life-work  counseling, 

21. 

Tempting  wages,  21. 
Tenement  home,  5. 
Thorndike,  Prof.  E.  L.,  60. 
Typical  employment  record,  20. 

Unemployables,  21. 
United  Kingdom,  152. 

Vocation  Bureau,  Civic  Service 
House,  31. 

Vocational  anarchy,  3. 

Vocational  education,  23. 

\'ocational  guidance  movement, 
23. 

Vocational  help  bureau,  170. 

Vocational  movements,  24. 

Vocational  service,  160. 

Vocations  for  Boston  Boys,  stud- 
ies in,  65. 

Wolff,  Dr.,  97. 

Woman  and  child  wage  earners 
in  the  United  States,  17. 


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